Kenyan governor charged with terrorism

A Kenyan regional governor has been charged with terrorism and murder over attacks in the coastal Lamu district in which scores of people were killed.




Issa Timamy is the first high-profile politician to be charged over the killings in the Mpeketoni town area.


He faces multiple counts of murder, incitement and forceful evictions.


Kenya's president has blamed the attacks on political networks, despite Somali Islamist group al-Shabab claiming responsibility.


Most of the dead were ethnic Kikuyus, like the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. Non-Muslims were singled out to be killed.


Opposition parties have disputed Kenyatta's claim that political networks were behind the killings.

Timamy belongs to a political affiliate of Kenyatta's governing Jubilee coalition.

He will remain in police custody until June 30, while investigations continue.

The attacks earlier in June killed at least 60 people, as gunmen descended on hotels and a police station.

It was the most deadly attack in Kenya since last September, when at least 67 people were killed by al-Shabab fighters at Nairobi's Westgate shopping centre.

On Tuesday, five people were killed in another attack by an armed gang on the village of Witu, about 15km (nine miles) from Mpeketoni.

On Wednesday, authorities said they had arrested 13 alleged separatists accused of planning more attacks on the coast.