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Kenyan police kill 10 in war against crime in Nairobi

Police killed 10 people during three shootouts on Wednesday in and around Kenya's violence-ridden capital, authorities said.

"The war on crime must go on," said Francis Munyambu, Nairobi's deputy provisional police officer.

Police said they shot three men who had hijacked a truck; three men who had broken into a home and cornered a resident there; and four suspected burglars about 20km outside the city. Authorities recovered two assault rifles, two pistols, 124 rounds of ammunition and four toy pistols.

The violence comes on the heels of high-profile carjackings and warnings from the US embassy that US citizens should be wary of visiting the country.

A regional director for the aid agency CARE was killed Jan. 26, and two US women related to a US embassy employee were killed on Jan. 27. A Kenyan AIDS researcher was killed on Feb. 4 and a US woman traveling with him was shot in the face.

The US has maintained a travel advisory for Kenya for years. On Tuesday, a new warning said this month's world cross country championships on Kenya's coast could be the target of an unspecified terrorist attack.

Last month, the embassy said violent crime was increasing and that Kenyan authorities have limited capacity to prevent it.

Kenyan officials frequently complain about the US travel advisory, which they say hurts the country's tourism industry, one of Kenya's largest moneymakers.

Kenyan citizens are by far the most frequent victims of violent crime in the country. Three other Kenyans were killed by the gang that killed the AIDS researcher on Feb. 4.

Kenya's police commissioner, Hussein Ali, has said violent crime has dropped in recent years, but few believe the statistics are accurate.
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