Leaders from North Eastern have accused the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) of carrying out extra judicial killings in the area, following the discovery of a mass grave within Mandera East Constituency yesterday.

The shallow grave, which was discovered by herdsmen, had 12 bodies, including a woman’s, at Lathe village, Arabia ward, 45 kilometres from Mandera town.

Eleven MPs from Mandera and Wajir counties yesterday, at a press conference at Parliament Buildings, condemned the incident and pointed an accusing finger at the military, which they also claim is operating a detention camp inside their barracks in the area. They asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene and have the matter investigated.

“Three months ago, 11 bodies were found in a shallow grave in Wajir town. Every week, we have reports of people disappearing; others killed and left for the hyenas to feed on. This is unacceptable,” said said Mandera Senator Billow Kerrow.

“President Uhuru Kenyatta should take this matter seriously by forming an independent team to investigate the issue immediately, failure to which we will call upon the ICC and UN to investigate because this is a crime against humanity,” he said.

A man yesterday identified the woman’s body as that of Isnina Mohamed, 45, a single mother of five, claiming she was his sister who has been missing from her restaurant at Arabia trading centre since last Thursday. By yesterday evening the other bodies had not been identified.

Police spokesman Charles Owino confirmed that one body had been identified and denied reports that the deceased was arrested by the KDF soldiers.

“She was reported as missing but the relatives did not indicate that she was arrested by the KDF soldiers,” he said.

But KDF spokesman David Obonyo denied allegations that missing persons were arrested by soldiers.

Whenever soldiers took suspects into custody, they would hand them over to the police, he said.