Kenya's president disbands 'killer police squad'

Ann elite police squad that has allegedly been involved in extrajudicial executions in Kenya in recent years has been abolished, according to President William Ruto of Kenya.

The president, who took office in September, claimed the action was a component of efforts to reform the nation's security industry.

On Sunday, he stated to a church congregation:

I'm the one who gave the order to dissolve the Special Service Unit that was carrying out extrajudicial killings.

We have a strategy in place to secure our nation, preventing the embarrassment of Kenyans being slaughtered [elsewhere] and having their bodies dumped in the Yala River, among other things. This country will change for the better thanks to us.

The dissolution of the team, according to Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper, was "precipitated" by an investigation report on the disappearance of two Indian citizens and their local taxi driver.

The two Indians arrived in Kenya in April to support Mr. Ruto's campaign ahead of the general election in August, but they vanished along with their Kenyan taxi driver three months later, according to the newspaper.

It was discovered in January that at least 19 unidentified bodies in various states of decomposition had been pulled from the Yala River over the previous two years.

There is no proof that the security personnel was involved in any way with the Yala bodies.

But many murders that have been directly tied to police officers have been reported by human rights organizations.