Scores of people have been killed in Kenya's western Rift Valley province as the unrest over the disputed re-election of Mwai Kibaki, the incumbent president, continues.

The latest flashpoint is in the town of Naivasha, 90km northwest of the capital Nairobi, where at least 14 people were burnt to death in their homes, officials said on Sunday.

"We have found 14 bodies burnt in houses," a police commander told the AFP news agency on Sunday.

"It appears the attackers locked them in and set them ablaze."

Nine people were killed earlier in clashes between gangs of youths in Naivasha's slums, an AFP correspondent reported.

In nearby Nakuru, the provincial capital, at least 130 people are reported to have died in violence since Thursday night.

Ethnic violence first flared up in Nakuru on Thursday night between gangs armed with machetes, spears and bows and arrows.

Overnight violence

Earlier on Sunday, police said that 17 people had been killed overnight - 11 in Nakuru's Manyani slums and six in the nearby trading post of Timboroa.

"We understand that the police are being totally overwhelmed by gangs of up to 100 people," Yvonne Ndege, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Nairobi, said.

"The situation, as far as security is concerned, is very, very fluid indeed."

Ndege said that army troops were patrolling Nakuru, where a military base is situated.

She said that the government was cautious about bringing the army further into the conflict for fear of provoking further ethnic violence.

At least 700 people have been killed and 260,000 have been displaced in Kenya since the disputed presidential election on December 27 provoked rioting and ethnic killings.

Rigging charges

Raila Odinga, the leader of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), who ran against Kibaki in December's election, alleges that the vote was rigged, thus robbing him of the presidency.

Amid the continuing violence, Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary-general, met Odinga on Sunday at a hotel in Nairiobi, on the sixth day of his tour of Kenya.

A day earlier, Annan said he saw "gross and systematic human rights abuses of fellow citizens", after visits to parts of the Rift Valley.

However, his effort to end the turmoil has been undermined by the continuing violence.

Annan arranged a symbolic first meeting between Kibaki and Odinga on Thursday, but an initial signal that the opposing leaders were willing to talk was later undermined when they returned to their hardline positions.

Latent ethnic and land disputes have fuelled violence between Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe and members of the Luo and Kalenjin ethnic groups, who supported Odinga in the election.

The violent crisis has damaged Kenya's economy and shattered the east African nation's image as a model for stability in the region.

PHOTO CAPTION

A soldier approaches a group of Kikuyu men in Naivasha, Kenya