The Kenyan government chief pathologist and forensic experts were this Thursday morning making on-scene preparations for the gruesome task of mass grave exhumation and identification of bodies suspected to be victims of recent Tana River violence. The exercise follows a court order issued on Tuesday by the Garsen Law Courts after the grim discovery of two likely mass graves in the area.

The mass graves were chanced upon on by a group of General Service Unit officers on patrol in the area. The group was part of the 1,800 personnel from the paramilitary unit deployed there last week to keep vigil in the troubled region. The two mass graves are reported to be situated half a kilometer into the forest from the edges of Ozi village and 40 meters from the banks of the Tana River. The officers first on the scene say that a foul stench around the area raised suspicion and a search revealed freshly dug earth covered in twigs, suspected to be the site of an impromptu interment of more victims of the violence that has rocked the area the past month. The discovery could mean that the official death toll of the inter-ethnic clashes could rise significantly.

The find also means that villagers like Mr. Abdallah Wadhe who has been looking for his three missing family members, two weeks after the raid, have been having even more sleepless nights since news of the find were reported on Tuesday. In an interview with Sunday Nation, Mr. Wadhe had pleaded to the government for help in rescue efforts. “What I am asking the government is to come in and rescue my family since I have no powers to go in the villages of the attackers, who I suspect are holding them,” Mr. Wadhe was quoted. Dozens of people were reported missing and most have not been accounted for since the bloodbath was first witnessed in the area.

The discovery has sparked off speculations that the graves could likely be of some of the raiders killed in retaliatory attacks, buried by the villagers or fellow raiders. All these hypotheses however could be laid to rest once the exhumations and due forensic tests are determined.

Meanwhile, 20 people were arraigned in court on Tuesday in relation with the Tana River clashes and charged with murder. They were allegedly found with an assortment of crude weapons, a military uniform and binoculars. Their fellow villagers are however claiming that they are innocent law-abiding citizens. Religious, peace activists, human rights activists, National Cohesion and Integration Commission and the government have all been calling out for peace and calm following the violence that has soiled the country's reputation.