Nairobi, Kenya:
Kenyan police said on Sunday they had uncovered the bodies of a further 26 people believed to be members of a cult, bringing the number of corpses linked to the movement to 47 in three days.
“Today we exhumed 26 more bodies and this brings the total number of bodies from that place to 47,” said Chief of Criminal Investigation in Malindi, Eastern Kenya, Charles Kamau.
On Saturday, police sources reported that 21 bodies were exhumed in Kenya in an investigation into a cult whose followers are believed to have starved themselves.
Officials had previously reported seven deaths in connection with the investigation in eastern Kenya following the arrest of Makenzie Nthenge, who allegedly told followers to starve themselves to “meet Jesus.”
Nthenge, leader of the Good News International Church, turned himself in to police and was charged last month, according to local media, after two children died of starvation in the care of their parents.
He was later released on bail of 100,000 Kenyan shillings ($700).
Police reported his arrest on April 15 after discovering the bodies of four followers of Nthenge. Kenyan police said on Friday they had exhumed three more bodies.
Eleven other church followers — the youngest just 17 — were taken to hospital, three of them in critical condition, after being rescued on April 14.
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