Kenya exhumes 32 bodies in probe into suspected cult deaths

Thirty-two bodies have been exhumed in southeastern Kenya in the past week, in a tragedy that is sparking fresh criticism of authorities who had vowed to crack down on extremist sects after hundreds of members of a doomsday cult died two years ago.

The Kenyan government and local residents have linked the bodies discovered in the village of Kwa Binzaro to the same Christian sect blamed for the deaths of over 400 people in the nearby Shakahola Forest in 2023.

Seven more bodies were recovered on Thursday, bringing the total since exhumations began last week in the remote, forested area to 32, government pathologist Richard Njoroge told reporters.

Search operations continued on Friday, with workers in white hazmat suits and blue gloves combing through dense thickets with shovels and hoes.

Mackenzie's cult

Kwa Binzaro lies around 30 km (18 miles) from Shakahola, where prosecutors allege that cult leader Paul Mackenzie ordered his followers to starve themselves and their children so that they could go to heaven before the world ended.