The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Nairobi

Kenyan police have been ordered to shoot to kill looters, arsonists, people carrying weapons or blocking roads, a commander said Wednesday, in a bid to stem violence sparked by disputed elections.

The order, made for the second time since President Mwai Kibaki's widely-contested reelection last month, followed the formal launch of crisis talks between Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga, who claims he was robbed of the presidency.

It also came amid increasing international condemnation of the spiral of violence in which almost 1,000 people have died and more than a quarter million have been displaced.

"There are four categories of people who will face tough police action: Those looting property, burning houses, carrying offensive weapons, barricading roads," the police commander told AFP, a day after military helicopters fired above ethnic fighting in the lakeside town of Naivasha, the latest flashpoint.

"We have orders to shoot to kill these categories of people if they are caught in the act," he added.

The last time police issued 'shoot-to-kill' orders was early January when gangs were attacking police in a first wave of post-election violence.

Crisis talks led by Kofi Annan began Tuesday as police reported 22 new deaths in brutal ethnic clashes and a police crackdown, particularly in opposition strongholds in western Kenya and the capital's slums.

Violence peaked yet again after the slaying of an opposition lawmaker in Nairobi Tuesday.

"Police will henceforth be very forceful on groups of persons carrying out activities that threaten the lives and property of others," police spokesman Eric Kiraithe told AFP Wednesday.

The military has so far played a backseat role in response to the violence, clearing barricades on the main road linking the capital to western Kenya and assisting in enforcing a curfew in the western town of Nakuru.

Soldiers armed with assault rifles and whips patrolled the tense streets of Naivasha Wednesday, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of Nairobi, where three died the previous day.

No clashes were reported, but several stalls were burned down in the town centre and the army said it had arrested a suspected arsonist.

Some 8,000 displaced people remained in a police compound where they have been sheltering since violence erupted there several days ago, transforming a tourist town famed for its wildlife.