Armed with machetes, guns and clubs, the gangs on Sunday terrorized Naivasha, 50 miles from Nairobi, and cut off highways into the city, The East African Standard reported.

Emergency officials said 16 people trying to hide in a small, two-room house died when the house was torched, the newspaper said.

The Kikuyus are supporters of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, who is accused by opposition parties of rigging last month's elections.

However, Redemta Haoth, a 36-year-old member of the Luo tribe, which generally supports opposition leader Raila Odinga, told a Los Angeles Times correspondent the violence that has killed nearly 700 people wasn't related to politics.

"This is not even about the election," Haoth said. "This is ethnic cleansing."

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is in Nairobi trying to mediate the political dispute and on Saturday made a similar observation about the violence.

"Let us not kid ourselves and think that this is an electoral problem," he said. "It's much broader and much deeper."