The death toll inside extreme fasting practices promoted by a religious sect in a Kenyan forest rose to 201, after the discovery of 22 new bodies, reported a government official from this East African country.

The regional prefect, Rhoda Onyancha, also reported that 26 people have already been arrested in connection with the massacre in Shakahola forest, including the ex-cab driver Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, pastor of the International Church of Good NewsThat he encouraged his followers to deprive themselves of food in order to “find Jesus”.

Mackenzie, 50, turned herself in to authorities on April 14 after the discovery of the first graves. Since then, about fifty have been found.

The search for other bodies will be suspended for two days to allow the investigation to be reorganized and will resume on Tuesday, Onyancha said.

Among those arrested were members of a “gang of thugs”, who made sure no one broke their fast or tried to flee the forest, he said.

about 600 casualties

Autopsies have proven that so far most of the victims – including some children – died of starvation, although there is also evidence that people were strangled, beaten or suffocated, according to government coroner Johansen Oduor.

Certain organs were removed from some bodies, arousing suspicion “well-coordinated trafficking in human organs involving different actors”according to a court report prepared last Monday.

However, Kenya’s interior minister on Tuesday asked that this suspicion be treated “with caution” as it is currently “a theory under investigation”.

Onyancha indicated that received reports of about 600 missing personssome of them from villages near Shakahola Forest.