State security agencies are abducting and killing men who they suspect of having links to Islamic extremists, a Human rights group has said.
According to Human Rights Watch, the region has recorded a total of 34 enforced disappearances and another 11 suspected cases of extrajudicial killings over the last two years.
The male victims suffered at the hands of security enforcers in Garissa, Mandera and Wajir counties in what the group reports as part of counter terrorism security operations in Kenya's predominant ethnic Somali communities.
"People in North Eastern Kenya fully deserve protection from the frequent Al-Shabaab attacks, not additional abuse from the state authorities," stated HRW executive director Ken Roth.
He added that the cases documented were just a tip of the iceberg.
The report details that people are captured from their homes by masked and armed men who do not identify themselves.
The arrested Somali men are beaten in the streets and later driven away in government vehicles.
Some of the disappeared victims were last seen in police and military custody. None of the arrested has ever been charged with a criminal case or even their families notified of their whereabouts.
"Rounding up of people and refusing to disclose information on their whereabouts is a very serious crime that only compounds massive fears and mistrust in the security enforcement agencies," Roth said.
Kenya's Anti-Terrorism Police Unit has been widely accused of intimidating and killing, rather than arresting suspects.