Mob attacks Kenya church, up to 30 dead

By Wangui Kanina

NAIROBI (Reuters) - A mob torched a church in western Kenya on Tuesday killing up to 30 people sheltering inside as post-election violence swept the east African country, witnesses said.

Ethnic clashes have rocked Kenya since President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election on Sunday. At least 150 people have died nationwide, and the death toll looked sure to rise.

"I saw about 10 to 15 bodies crammed in a corner. They were charred, I could not look at the scene twice," one local reporter who visited the scene told Reuters from Eldoret town.

"There was a part of the church where I could not access but the death toll could be about 25."

The reporter said about 200 people had been seeking refuge at the Kenya Assemblies of God Pentecostal church, about 8 km (5 miles) from Eldoret in fertile Rift Valley Province.

He said the victims were mostly Kikuyus from Kibaki's ethnic group, who fled homes in the area in fear of their lives.

"Some youths came to the church. They fought with the boys who were guarding it, but they were overpowered and the youths set fire to the church," he said.

Another local journalist in Eldoret who spoke to witnesses said up to 30 bodies lay in the church, and four were outside.