SIX suspects detained in a police cell in the central Kenyan town of Thika died in unexplained circumstances on Monday and three others were hospitalised with injuries, state radio reported. The radio, which quoted a police representative, gave no further details on the deaths, but the local member of parliament Stephen Ndicho, who saw the bodies in the mortuary, appeared on the independent Nation Television saying the suspects had been battered to death. ”They were severely battered and the bodies were swollen all over,” said Ndicho. The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation radio said police officers who were on duty at Thika police station, 40 kilometres northeast of Nairobi, had been detained to help with investigations. Kenyan police are regularly accused of brutality. In July, police shot dead seven suspected gangsters after disarming them while they were allegedly lying face down on the side of a busy road near the capital. – Sapa