NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenyan authorities cut off water and electricity Thursday to thousands in a Nairobi slum, saying the illegal connections benefit gangsters accused of a string of beheadings.

Police have been working to wipe out the Mungiki, an outlawed gang that demands protection payments and controls illegal businesses that provide electricity by rerouting circuits. The group has been blamed for killing at least 27 civilians and 15 police officers since April and many of the victims were beheaded.

“This is another step toward completely eliminating the Mungiki,” said Paul Ruto, Nairobi’s northern area police chief. “Once you cut out their sources of revenue, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to maneuver.”

As with other recent anti-Mungiki operations, residents said police indiscriminately arrested people and demolished homes in the Mathare slum, known as a stronghold for Mungiki.

On Thursday, police fired automatic weapons into the air and knocked down doors in Mathare.

Dozens of people accused of throwing stones at police were carted off in trucks, their hands tied with red electrical cord that authorities confiscated during the searches.

Many of Mathare’s 500,000 residents also said they cannot afford legal links to water and electricity.

“Come here in two days and you will find us connected again, illegally,” Irungu wa Kogi told The Associated Press. “The only solution is for these companies to have cheaper tariffs for the people.”

Officials from Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company and Kenya Power and Lighting Company said the illegal hookups drive up prices.

A Mungiki leader, who did not want his name published because he is wanted by police, said recent crackdowns were cutting off the group’s moneymaking schemes.

The group claims to have thousands of adherents, all drawn from the Kikuyu, Kenya’s largest tribe. The gang was inspired by the bloody Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s against British colonial rule. In recent years, it has been linked to extortion, murder and political violence.

Mungiki was outlawed in 2002 after at least 20 people were killed in fighting with another gang.

Mungiki members have threatened to disrupt the elections expected in December, when President Mwai Kibaki will seek a second term. Leaflets circulated by the group call on Kenyan youth to rise up against the government.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)