Kenyan police police have arrested the governor of the coastal Lamu district in connection with three recent massacres in which over 60 people were killed, officers said yesterday. Governor Issa Timamy was arrested late on Wednesday in connection with last week's killings over two consecutive nights in the town of Mpeketoni and a nearby village that claimed nearly 60 lives. Another attack this week left at least five dead, officials said. "The governor is in custody," Kenya's Criminal Investigations Department chief Ndegwa Muhoro said, adding the governor would appear in court. "There are various charges lined up for him that are related to the attack," he said, without giving further details. Despite an immediate claim of responsibility from the al-Qaede-linked al-Shebaab for the Mpeketoni attack, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has blamed "local political network of other criminal gangs." The accusations have stoked already tense political rivalry between Kenyatta and opposition parties. Mr Timamy is a member of the opposition party United Democratic Forum. Survivors of the attack in Mpeketoni reported gunmen speaking Somali and carrying al-Shebaab flags, executing non-Muslims and saying their actions were revenge for Kenya's military presence in Somalia as part of the African Union force fighting the Islamists.