Carjackers shoot two women dead in Kenya
Gunmen carjacked a US Embassy vehicle on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital today, killing two women in the car, police said.
“The thugs ordered the two women out but they hesitated,” said Isaiah Osugo, a criminal investigations officer in Nairobi. “Then they were shot.”
Officials at the US Embassy in Nairobi did not immediately answer calls for comment. Police withheld the women’s names until next of kin could be notified.
Francis Munyambu, Nairobi’s deputy provisional police officer, said the carjackers escaped with the embassy vehicle and were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles. The men had carjacked another vehicle earlier in the day, he said.
The shooting happened just off a highway in Kinoo, about 20km outside Nairobi. A reporter at the scene saw two pools of blood on the roadside.
Shortly after Munyambu’s news conference, two men who identified themselves only as officials from the American Embassy ordered reporters to leave the scene immediately.
Carjackings are common in and around Nairobi, but today’s attack was unusually brazen because it took place during the day. In September, the chief US military attaché was shot and seriously wounded in a carjacking in Nairobi. Russia’s ambassador was stabbed in a robbery on August 20.
A month earlier, a Danish diplomat was attacked and robbed.
Kenya’s government spokesman, Alfred Mutua, said officials believe today’s violence was “a random attack”. He did not provide further details.
