Five men suspected to be leaders of the Wakali Kwanza and Wakali Wao gangs in Mombasa were killed after police shot four and members of the public lynched the other in Kisauni.
Police raids conducted for over two days in the Mwandoni area resulted in the death of two of the suspects identified as Danga and Kadenge as well as a third unidentified suspect.
The young gangsters are said to have been armed with machetes and other crude weapons as they engaged police officers in running battles, with 10 of them escaping by swimming into the Indian Ocean near Nyali.
Kisauni OCPD Christopher Rotich confirmed the reports indicating that 10 other suspects had been arrested and held at the police station.
"We received information that the gang had closed a road as they terrorised people," he narrated.
He explained that they had been closely monitoring the activities of the gangs adding that one of the suspects who escaped was a hardened criminal called Paul Musau.
"We want Paul to surrender or we deal with him," the officer threatened.
Mr Rotich conveyed that the police were still on the hunt for the escaped criminals and they would continue to pursue them.
"We are hunting the rest. We cannot have youth giving residents sleepless nights," he asserted.
