The gruesome saga, which has been dubbed the 'Shakahola Forest Massacre', has prompted calls for a crackdown on fringe religious outfits in the largely Christian country.
MALINDI - The number of victims linked to a suspected starvation cult in Kenya climbed to 95 on Wednesday, a government official said, with weeping relatives anxiously awaiting news of loved ones after investigators unearthed mass graves last week.
"We had five exhumations which brings the total number of those who lost their lives to 95," Rhoda Onyancha, Coast Regional Commissioner, told reporters. Onyancha said Wednesday that 39 people had been found alive so far in the 325-hectare bush around Shakahola, while 22 people have been arrested. The majority of the dead were children, according to three sources close to the investigation, highlighting the macabre nature of the cult's alleged practices which included urging parents to starve their offspring.
Kenya's President William Ruto has vowed to take action against rogue pastors like Nthenge "who want to use religion to advance weird, unacceptable ideology".
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