Kenya police say MP Charles Were's killing 'targeted, premeditated'
Kenya's police say the fatal shooting of lawmaker Charles Were by a gunman aboard a motorcycle in the capital Nairobi on Wednesday evening appears to have been targeted and premeditated.
Were, a MP representing Kasipul constituency in Kenya's west, was shot dead at around 7.30pm (4.30pm GMT) when his vehicle was stopped at a traffic light on Ngong Road, police said in a statement released late on Wednesday.
According to witnesses, the shooter was riding as a passenger on a motorcycle that stopped alongside the car, police said.
"The pillion passenger approached the vehicle and fired shots at the passenger side before jumping back onto the motorcycle and speeding away," police said. "The nature of this crime appears to be both targeted and premeditated."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Maverick
2 days ago
- Daily Maverick
Discovery of wartime bombs prompts large-scale evacuation in Cologne, Germany
An evacuation zone with a radius of 1,000 metres (1,100 yards) was cleared from 8 a.m. (0600 GMT), impacting around 20,500 residents along with many workers and hotel guests in the city's old town and Deutz district. Three American bombs, each with impact fuses, were found during construction work on Monday in Deutz, a bustling area on the bank of the River Rhine. Bomb disposal experts plan to disarm the ordnance later on Wednesday. Unexploded bombs are often found in Germany, where many major cities sustained heavy damage during the war. The evacuation area includes one hospital, two retirement homes, nine schools, and many hotels and museums. 'Everyone involved hopes that the defusing can be completed in the course of Wednesday. This is only possible if all those affected leave their homes or workplaces early and stay outside the evacuation area from the outset on that day,' the city authority said in a statement. The measures caused major transport disruptions in the city of over a million people, with Germany's national rail operator warning that many trains would be diverted or cancelled. A stretch of the Rhine will be blocked off before the bomb disposal operation begins. The Rhine, which runs from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea via Cologne, is one of Europe's key waterways for the transportation of commodities such as grain and coal. Private television station RTL whose main office is located in the evacuation zone, interrupted its morning news programme.
TimesLIVE
2 days ago
- TimesLIVE
Central Cologne evacuated after discovery of World War 2 bombs
Thousands of people were being evacuated from central Cologne in western Germany on Wednesday after the discovery of three wartime bombs, in what the city authority called the largest such measure since the end of World War 2. An evacuation zone with a radius of 1km will be cleared from 8am 6am GMT), affecting about 20,500 residents as well as many workers and hotel guests in the city's historic old town and popular Deutz district, the authority said. Three American bombs from World War 2, each with impact fuses, were discovered during construction work on Monday in Deutz, a bustling area on the bank of the River Rhine. A team of bomb disposal experts plan to disarm the ordnance later on Wednesday. Unexploded bombs are often found in Germany, which had many of its major cities bombed to ruins during the war, and such operations often go smoothly. The evacuation area includes one hospital, two retirement homes and nine schools, as well as 58 hotels and many museums. 'Everyone involved hopes the defusing can be completed on Wednesday. This is only possible if those affected leave their homes or workplaces early and stay outside the evacuation area from the outset,' the city authority said, appealing to residents to follow instructions. The measures caused major disruptions to transport in and out of the city of more than a million people, with Germany's national rail operator warning many trains would be diverted or possibly cancelled.
Eyewitness News
3 days ago
- Eyewitness News
Dozens dead in twin attacks on Mali army bases, Timbuktu airport targeted
BAMAKO - Twin attacks on a Malian army base in the northern city of Timbuktu and in the centre of the country left dozens of soldiers dead, as well as at least a dozen assailants, security sources and local officials said on Monday. Timbuktu came under attack and shells were also fired at the airport where heavy gunfire was heard, the army, local officials and residents said. The army's general staff said in a statement it had "thwarted an attempt by terrorist fighters to infiltrate the Timbuktu camp" at around 10:00 am (local and GMT) with 14 attackers "neutralised", with no mention of other victims. "The terrorists were quickly routed by the swift reaction of the men," the army said, adding that "31 suspected terrorists" had been arrested. But the military was mourning the loss of at least 30 soldiers after reports emerged late on Monday of an attack on Sunday, likewise blamed on jihadists, at the Boulkessi army base in central Mali, near the border with Burkina Faso. Security sources and a local official said they believed the death toll from that attack would likely rise. "Our units on the ground report the death of 30 people on our side... Our men fought to the end but did not receive the necessary support," a security source in Bamako told AFP after the attack on what is one of the main military camps in the centre of the violence-plagued country. The source added other soldiers remained missing. "The toll is at least 60 soldiers killed," one local elected official told AFP on condition of anonymity. A second security source told AFP there were "about 60 victims on the side of Malian forces", although that tally included "the dead, the missing and the soldiers taken hostage". In a statement late Sunday, the army had indicated that troops had "responded vigorously" to the Boulkessi attack before withdrawing. 'FOUGHT UNTIL LAST BREATH' The statement went on to declare that "many men fought, some until their last breath" to defend their country and that ensuing military operations "have destroyed several terrorists grouped in places of retreat". Junta-ruled Mali has since 2012 faced attacks from groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group as well as separatist movements and criminal gangs. The army's general staff said Monday regarding the Timbuktu attack that it had thwarted an attempt by terrorist fighters to infiltrate the camp in the fabled desert city. Later in the day, a security source said that operations in the camp were "already over" and that the attackers were "everywhere in the city". "They did not raid the airport because the Russians are there. But they launched shells. It's hot everywhere," the source added. A local official said the "terrorists" arrived in Timbuktu "with a vehicle packed with explosives". "The vehicle exploded near the (military) camp," the official said. UN staff were instructed in a message "to take shelter". 'UNDER FIRE' A local journalist speaking by telephone said "the city is under fire". The ancient city of Timbuktu, once known as the "city of 333 saints" for the Muslim holy men buried there, was subject to major destruction while under the control of jihadists for several months in 2012. The jihadists who swept into the city considered the shrines idolatrous and destroyed them with pickaxes and bulldozers. The ancient city was peacefully retaken in late January 2013 with the support of French military forces under Operation Serval, deployed to halt the jihadists' advance in Mali. Since seizing power in coups in 2020 and 2021, Mali's military rulers have broken the country's traditional ties with its former colonial power France and moved closer to Russia. Jihadist groups and the Malian army and its allies from the Russian paramilitary group Wagner are regularly accused of committing abuses against civilians.
