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Kenyan ministers killed in helicopter crash Kenyan minister killed in crash
(about 14 hours later)
Kenya's minister for internal security, George Saitoti, and his deputy have been killed in a police helicopter crash in a forest just outside the capital, the government says. Kenya's internal security minister was killed along with five other people in a helicopter crash near Nairobi on Sunday, the vice president said.
A spokesman said the prime minister, Raila Odinga, had been informed of the deaths of Saitoti and his deputy, Orwa Ojode. George Saitoti and his deputy, Orwa Ojode, were among those killed when a police helicopter crashed on the outskirts of the capital, vice president Kalonzo Musyoka said.
A former long-serving vice-president under the former president Daniel Arap Moi, Saitoti was also a presidential candidate in an election expected to be held by March next year. Two pilots and two bodyguards were also killed in the crash, officials said.
A Reuters photographer counted three bodies at the scene of the crash in a forest in the Ngong area just outside Nairobi. The death of Saitoti is a "great tragedy that has befallen our country at this time as we are making elaborate preparations to hold peaceful elections," prime minister Raila Odinga said at the scene of the crash.
Debris from the burnt-out blue police helicopter was strewn in the brush where government officials and curious locals jostled to catch a glimpse. It was not immediately clear what caused the accident. .
It was not immediately clear what caused the crash. More people were feared to have been on board the helicopter. "As we speak now, nobody knows the cause of the accident," Odinga said. Saitoti and Ojode were on their way to a political event in eastern Kenya.
Saitoti, an ally of the president, Mwai Kibaki, was the leading government voice against the Somali militant group al-Shabaab, often visiting the scenes of grenade attacks inside Kenya and vowing the east African nation would crush the group. Saitoti, an American-trained economist and mathematician, was a deputy to former president Daniel arap Moi for over a decade.
Kenya's troops have been fighting al-Shabaab in neighbouring Somalia since last October. The militants have killed several people in a string of grenade attacks in Nairobi, the far north and the coast in retaliation against Kenya's moves against them. As security minister he was the government's spokesman on security matters including Kenya's decision to send troops to Somalia last year. Analysts say he played a key role in that decision.
Saitoti often appeared on national television to reassure the public in the aftermath of deadly attacks blamed on the Somali militant group al-Shabaab.
Saitoti announced last year that he would seek the Kenyan presidency in 2013.
Odinga said the helicopter crash on Sunday morning was similar to an incident four years ago in which two Kenyan cabinet ministers died in a plane crash.