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Kenyan Internal Security Minister George Saitoti has been killed in a helicopter crash, officials say.

They say Mr Saitoti and his deputy, Orwa Ojode, died when the aircraft went down west of Nairobi, bursting into flames as it hit the ground.

There is no word on the cause of the crash, in which six people were killed, including assistants and bodyguards.

Mr Saitoti, a former vice-president, had been planning to run in a forthcoming presidential poll.

The 66-year-old was on his way to a security meeting when his helicopter crashed on Sunday morning.

An journalist for AFP news agency saw six charred bodies being removed from the wreckage.

Another reporter at the scene says debris of the burnt-out police helicopter were strewn in the brush.

Mr Saitoti, a former senior member of the long-dominant Kanu party, joined Mr Kibaki's National Alliance of Kenya in 2002.

He was a leading government voice against the Somali militant group al-Shabab.

Kenyan troops have been fighting al-Shabab since last October. The militants have killed several people in a string of grenade attacks in various parts of Kenyan, including Nairobi.

No date for the presidential election has so far been set. Mr Kibaki's mandate ends in January 2013.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga - a rival of both Mr Kibaki and Mr Saitoti - has also announced he was standing for president.

The last presidential election, in December 2007, was followed by a wave of ethnic and political violence in which about 1,500 were killed.

Mr Odinga has warned about the emergence of ethnically-based political groups in the run-up to the next poll.

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