Kenyan families' fury over killings

Kenyan police have criticised the country's Human Rights Commission for accusing them of the unlawful killings of hundreds of suspected Mungiki sect members, saying it is "reckless" and "wrong" to jump to any conclusion when an investigation into the killings is in the early stages.

Three residents in Mathare slum, east of Nairobi, spoke to the BBC News website about the killings of their relatives.

Anonymity has been given to the residents and their late family members because of fear of reprisals and intimidation.

BROTHER OF THE LATE JOHN, 27

It was on Monday 4 June this year around 2200 local time when it all started.

It was after the two police officers had been killed by people claiming to be members of the Mungiki sect.

About 200 police officers - all dressed in full uniform - came to our residential area and said that they were looking for members of the outlawed Mungiki sect.

They were harassing everyone, beating people, carrying away anyone who was a member of a Kikuyu community - not specific Mungiki members, just anyone who was Kikuyu.

My late brother John was one of the men taken away by them.

MUNGIKI SECT Banned in 2002 Thought to be ethnic Kikuyu militants Mungiki means multitude in Kikuyu Inspired by the Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s Claim to have more than 1m followers Promote female circumcision and oath-taking Believed to be linked to high-profile politicians Control public transport routes, demanding levies Blamed for revenge murders in the central region Profile: Secretive sect

Many, many people from Mathare were arrested that night by them.

But then, we later discovered that he was also one of the 27 residents killed that night.

First of all, we started looking at police stations to see if he was in custody.

But he was nowhere to be found.

We asked police after police after police about his whereabouts but they would all say the same thing: "We don't want to hear about the cases of Mathare slum. Only the sect members were arrested."

So then we started going to every mortuary. Each day we visited another one.

On Friday 8 June we found John at Nairobi City Mortuary.

He was dead. There was one bullet wound to his head.

BROTHER TO THE LATE WACHIRA, 27

My brother was killed during the police crackdown on Thursday 7 June.

It was daytime.

What exactly happened is that the police surrounded the whole area and started telling all the people to come out of their homes.

But as we later found out there was a school kid in one of the houses and he must have been frightened because he had hid under his bed.

In pics: Mungiki crackdown

He must have been very afraid and not known what to do.

But then this police officer - a woman - went into the house.

Then there was a gun shot.

Then after a while she came out and called out, beckoning my late brother to go to her.

Then she shot at my brother. Three times he was shot.

Apparently she thought that the kid was actually an adult and so she shot at the child but then she realised what she had done and so called someone else - who turned out to be my brother Wachira.

I think she had realised that she had made a mistake of shooting a child and so decided to also shoot a man so then she could blame the child's death on a stray bullet - a bullet flying free.

BROTHER TO THE LATE MUREFU, 24

My late brother who was known by the nickname Murefu - tall man - disappeared on Wednesday 11 July.

It was at that time when we heard that the police were using intelligence to hunt down Mungiki sect members.

I don't know what kind but apparently they were.

These guys arrived at his place of work. No-one knows if they were police officers or gang members or who they were because there were disguised in civilian clothes.

These people who picked him up had said they wanted to talk about some small things with him.

So they all went off together.

But later my brother Murefu was nowhere to be found.

We have never seen him again.

No-one knows anything either, no matter who we approach or ask.