| |
| |
 |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
NAIROBI : Two American women were shot dead in a US embassy vehicle during a carjacking in the Kenyan capital, police said.
The pair, believed to be the mother and wife of a US diplomat, were among the four occupants of the vehicle waiting for a colleague to arrive when the attackers struck, they said.
"It was a normal robbery and not premeditated. We are pursuing the thugs," said Julius Nthenga, a police commander for Nairobi's Gigiri police division.
The vehicle was not recovered. The two other passengers were admitted to hospital in shock, he added.
US embassy officials declined to comment on the attack.
Witnesses described hearing screams and seeing the women lying on the roadside bleeding profusely.
One man, Michael Madine, said his car had been carjacked by the same men, who stuffed him into the boot and then attacked the US embassy vehicle.
"They jumped into the car and forced me into the boot of my Pajero," he said.
The four men, two armed with AK-47 rifles, pulled over to the side of the road and Madine said he then heard screams.
"I heard screaming, then three gunshots and commotion as members of the public gathered around my vehicle," he said, adding that he then saw the women "sprawled on the ground bleeding profusely".
Carjackings, especially against foreigners, are a common occurrence in the east African nation. Police said earlier in the week that they had killed at least 52 people suspected of violent robbery in the past month.
In August last year, highway robbers stabbed the Russian ambassador and robbed him of personal effects. In the same month the US embassy reported that a mission employee had been carjacked at gunpoint in Nairobi.
And in July, gunmen carjacked Kenyan Trade Minister Mukhisa Kituyi's luxury four-wheel drive vehicle, stealing cash, mobile phones, credit cards and other items.
In 2005, US government analysts identified Nairobi as the "hub" for a disturbing new trend toward violent carjackings across Africa.
The report, which was released at the height of attacks on diplomats in the east African nation, came after the US embassy in Kenya issued a series of security alerts saying Nairobi and its environs had "become a hotbed for carjacking."
A month later, gunmen robbed the then-new Danish ambassador to Kenya of a mobile phone and cash as he headed to the embassy for his first day of work.
- AFP /ls
|
