The military has joined a multi-agency operation to rescue an Italian woman abducted from Chakama Ranch in Kilifi County.
Police said the mission is focused on locating the woman and arresting the abductors so they can be dealt with according to the law.
According to police, gunmen whose motive has not yet been established attacked an orphanage home, shot and injured five people, then kidnapped the woman on Tuesday night.
In a separate incident, three suspected thugs were shot dead during a botched robbery in a house in Mukuru slums, Nairobi.
Police said the suspects were part of a gang that had been attacking and robbing residents before an alarm alerted officers on patrol. Three others escaped on foot.
Crude weapons were recovered from the men who were killed, police said.
The incident came amid an intensified crackdown on armed robberies in the city. Police said more than 30 suspects had been killed in the campaign in the previous month alone.
-Cyrus Ombati
