Nairobi: George Saitoti, Kenya’s internal security minister, and his deputy were killed on Sunday when a police helicopter crashed into a forest just outside the capital, the government said.
Saitoti was also a presidential candidate in an election expected to be held by March next year, Reuters reported.
A Reuters’ photographer counted three charred bodies at the scene of the crash in a forest in the Ngong area just outside of Nairobi. Debris of the burnt-out blue police helicopter were strewn in the bushes where government officials and curious locals jostled to catch a glimpse.
The cause of the crash has remained unclear yet. Saitoti, an ally of President Mwai Kibaki, was the leading government voice against Somali militants al Shabaab, often visiting the scenes of grenade attacks inside Kenya and vowing the east African nation would crush the group.
Kenya’s troops have been fighting al Shabaab in neighbouring Somalia since last October. The militants have killed several people in a string of grenade attacks in Nairobi, the far north and the coast in retaliation to Kenya’s moves against them.
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