Kenya watchdog probes possible police link to dumped bodies

The Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) is also looking into claims of abductions and unlawful arrests of demonstrators who went missing after widespread anti-government protests.

Kenyan security forces are under scrutiny over the deaths of dozens of people during the demonstrations last month, accused by rights groups of using excessive force.

National police chief Japhet Koome, the target of much public anger over the protest deaths, resigned after less than two years in the post, Kenya's presidency announced Friday.

The same day, police said the severely mutilated bodies of six women were found dumped in a garbage site in the Nairobi slum of Mukuru.

The IPOA said in a statement later Friday that the remains of at least nine people had been recovered, seven of them female and two male.

"The bodies, wrapped in bags and secured by nylon ropes, had visible marks of torture and mutilation," it said, noting that the dumpsite was less than 100 metres (yards) from a police station.

"As the police investigations unfold, IPOA is keenly independently undertaking preliminary inquiries to establish whether there was any police involvement in the deaths, or failure to act to prevent them," the agency said.

Images on local television showed people using ropes to pull plastic sacks containing the human remains from rubbish-strewn water in an abandoned quarry.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations said preliminary investigations suggested all the victims had been killed in the same manner, without elaborating.

The bodies were taken to the city morgue to await postmortem examinations, it added.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions also highlighted the location of the bodies so close to a police station and said was "deeply concerned" about the discoveries "which point to a grave violation of human rights".