A Reuters Television journalist saw two people who police had shot dead in Nairobi's Industrial Area, where witnesses said Mungiki members were stoning cars.

The gang, drawn from the majority Kikuyu tribe, has said it is protesting the beheading of its jailed leader's wife last week, which it blamed on police. Police deny that.

Mungiki is Kenya's version of the mafia and has provided muscle-for-hire to politicians in the past. It provoked a bloody police crackdown that led to more than 100 deaths last year, after the group killed and beheaded scores of people.

Police presence across the Kenyan capital was heavy, a regular sight in the nation since a disputed December 27 election spilled into ethnic violence.

Source: Reuters