Arsonists Add to Violence on Kenyan Coast

MOMBASA, Kenya — Arsonists destroyed about 100 roadside kiosks and dozens of houses around this coastal city Sunday after five Kenyans were killed and many hurt overnight by unidentified attackers, witnesses said.

The government sent in the army to back police and paramilitary units battling to end five days of violence in the area, having withdrawn the soldiers a day earlier.

Police figures showed 31 people had been killed in the fighting, which erupted Wednesday night with an attack on a police station.

Several thousand foreign tourists on the coast north and south of Mombasa were advised to stay in their hotels, but no visitors had been caught up in the violence, officials said.

Officials have not identified a motive, but local residents said those killed were mainly people who originally came from outside the coastal region.

They pointed to leaflets, handwritten in Swahili, that had been distributed around the region.

“The time has come for us original inhabitants of the coast to claim what is rightly ours. We must remove these invaders from our land,” the pamphlets said.

Reuters reporter Edmund Kwena said that a gasoline station was attacked and a pump set on fire and that he saw scores of buildings torched Sunday.

“I personally counted up to 100 kiosks completely burned down. Dozens of houses were also set on fire in the Diani area, a popular tourist area south of Mombasa,” he said.

Kenya’s kiosks mostly sell clothing, fresh fruit and vegetables, and handicrafts to tourists.