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| A view shows the home of Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto in Sugoi village near Eldoret, Kenya.
At least one assailant stormed into the home of
Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto on Saturday and injured a policeman, less
than two weeks before the country votes in high-stakes polls, the police and
security sources said.
Ruto was not present during the attack, the details
of which remain unclear. Police say it was carried out by one man armed with a
machete, but several security sources said the assault was staged by
multiple people using guns.
"There are armed people who staged the attack
and have shot the GSU officer and stolen his gun," one security official said,
referring to the elite police General Security Unit deployed to guard Ruto's
house.
A second source, a senior police officer, said
security forces are trying to establish if there are still attackers in the
deputy president's "expansive" home near the town of Eldoret, some
312 kilometres (200 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi.
"More security personnel have been deployed
and a security operation is ongoing," the officer said, and witnesses
reported hearing several gunshots from the compound shortly after
reinforcements arrived.
Their accounts differed from a statement issued by
Kenya's police hours after the assault, which said someone carrying a machete
attacked a police officer guarding the entrance to the residence and then fled
into the compound.
"Other officers were quickly mobilised and the
intruder was forced to hide at a building that is still under construction next
to the gate," Kenya's police Chief Joseph Boinnet said in a statement.
The attack occurred despite the round-the-clock presence
of guards from the GSU's top-notch reconnaissance unit.
A spokesman for Ruto declined to comment but the
security official said the deputy president had left the house shortly before
the attack to attend rallies alongside President Uhuru Kenyatta, his running
mate who faces a tight re-election contest on August 8 against longtime
opposition leader Raila Odinga.
- Tensions mounting ahead of vote -
Ruto's home sits in Kenya's western Rift Valley
area, the flashpoint for an outbreak of election violence after the disputed
2007 polls that killed 1,100 people and tarnished Kenya's image as a regional
beacon of safety and stability.
According to opinion polls, this year's election
will be close and tensions have been rising.
Odinga has repeatedly claimed the government is
scheming to steal the election, while Kenyatta has accused Odinga of trying to
delay the polls.
Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch said it had
received reports of threats and voter intimidation in Naivasha, a flashpoint
town in 2007 and one of the potential hotspots in this year's election.
In the Rift Valley, hate speech flyers have been
circulating and some local residents have already left their homes.
Gideon Moi, son of former president Daniel arap Moi
and an influential senator from the Rift Valley released a statement calling
Saturday's assault "shocking and worrying."
"Kenyans at this moment want to peacefully
participate democratically in electing their leaders and no criminal element or
group should be allowed to jeopardise peace at this critical time," Moi
said.
The 2007 bloodshed haunted both Ruto and Kenyatta
long after it ended, when the International Criminal Court put both on trial
for orchestrating the violence.
Those charges were later
dropped, with ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda blaming a relentless campaign
of victim intimidation for making a trial impossible.
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