A young man who was shot in the abdomen is carried to hospital by fellow residents of the sprawling Kibera slum following violence in the area.

Police shot and killed one person and critically wounded three others as violence erupted in Nairobi’s Kibera slum.

One of the three later died while undergoing surgery at Masaba Hospital and the rest were last evening fighting for their lives at the same hospital.

Two other people were cut several times on various parts of their bodies by machete-wielding youth. One of them died on the way to Kenyatta National Hospital.

As residents of Kibera came to terms with the three deaths, local MP Mr Raila Odinga blamed the violence on former Mungiki sect leader Mr Ndura Waruinge.

Waruinge defied a police ban and pressed on with plans to hold a religious crusade in the area. Police who kept a heavy presence in the slum moved in when residents attacked a vehicle ferrying a public address system from the venue of the outlawed meeting.

Waruinge, who says he has parted company with the outlawed sect and turned pastor, has declared his interest in Raila’s Lang’ata seat. He blamed Raila for Sunday’s fracas and threatened to return to his old ways if the MP visited violence on his supporters.

Police and rioting youth fought for more than four hours. At Gatwikira, which was the centre of the skirmishes, a police bullet ripped the skull of a young man whose body was left lying on the railway line.

Police were almost overwhelmed by chaos when at one time the rioting youth set upon a passing goods train with rocks, injuring the driver and forcing the train to come to a halt. The rain driver suffered a deep cut on the head.

Waruinge had earlier called off his planned rally after police barred him from accessing the Laini Saba venue of his meeting.

Youths apparently opposed to Waruinge started pelting police and lorries ferrying equipment with stones. One officer at the scene claimed some youth had guns and fired at police, forcing them to retaliate by firing at them.

Gun-fire and screams rent the air in the slum as police pursued the youths.

Police had no instructions to use live bullets

A truck driver with a shattered windscreen manouvres his way from the slums after he was attacked by mobs near Mashimoni in Kibera slums. He was hired to provide a public address system.

The youth who died on the spot was shot in the head. Another was shot on the side of the stomach and left writhing in pain with his bowels sticking out.

Police shot two others, one on the arm and another in the leg.

Nairobi Provincial Police Officer Njue Njagi confirmed that two people died of bullet wounds while a third died from a machete cut.

Njagi, however, said police had no instructions to use live bullets. He said he was investigating what led to the shooting.

Tension started at about 11 am after the police ordered that the public address system equipment and podium erected at the Kibera Laini Saba grounds- the venue of the illegal meeting- be dismantled.

Waruinge was not at the venue at the time. Earlier, police, who had cordoned off the venue, had blocked him from going to the slums.

Police officers escort the van out of the slums. Pictures by Noor Khamis

As the two equipment trucks were escorted out of the venue sandwiched between a police van and a lorry load of armed police, some youths started pelting the vehicles with stones shattering their windscreens.

More trouble lay ahead for the convoy, which was forced to come to a halt at Mashimoni area about 2 kilometres from Kibera Drive after the truck carrying the generator developed mechanical problems and got stuck on a hill.

At this point, the irate mob surged menacingly towards the trucks threatening to burn them down.

This prompted the police to lob tear gas canisters to repulse them, which triggered the bloody encounter that lasted for more than four hours. Police managed to usher one of the lorries to safety and kept watch over the stalled one.