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Kenya starvation cult ‘massacre’ toll climbs to 89

  • Kenyan investigators unearthed another 16 bodies on Tuesday in a forest where a cult was believed to be practising mass starvation
  • The grim discovery has shocked the nation and President William Ruto has pledged a crackdown on ‘unacceptable’ religious movements

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Kenya’s Inspector General of Police, Japhet Koome, second right, tours the scene where dozens of bodies have been found in shallow graves in the village of Shakahola, near the coastal city of Malindi, in southern Kenya. Photo: AP

Kenyan investigators unearthed another 16 bodies on Tuesday in a forest where a cult was believed to be practising mass starvation, bringing the number of victims so far to 89 including children.

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There are fears more corpses could be found in Shakahola forest where cult leader Paul Mackenzie Nthenge had allegedly been telling his followers that starvation was the only path to God.

Children are among the latest victims of the “Shakahola Forest Massacre”, with search teams in white overalls still undertaking the macabre task inland from Malindi on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast.

The grim discovery has shocked the nation and President William Ruto has pledged a crackdown on “unacceptable” religious movements as horrifying details unfold by the day.

We don’t know how many more graves, how many more bodies, we are likely to discover
Kithure Kindiki, Kenya’s interior minister

Visiting the site on Tuesday, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki warned that worse could still come.

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