Top Venezuelan embassy official killed in Kenya

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The head of Venezuela's embassy in Kenya was strangled to death at her official residence in the capital Nairobi, police said on Friday.

Nairobi police said they believed the charge d'affaires and acting ambassador, Olga Fonseca, was killed at the mansion, which is surrounded by an electric fence and located in the exclusive Runda neighborhood.

"We received reports that she was found dead in the house on her bed. What we have seen is that she has been strangled," Anthony Kibuchi, Nairobi area police commander, told reporters outside the home.

Fonseca started her job on July 15, Kenya's ministry of foreign affairs said. Officials in Caracas said she was also Venezuela's representative to U.N. agencies based in Nairobi, and had responsibility for Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda.

Venezuela's government expressed its deepest regret at the "deplorable" and "violent" killing and said it was confident the Kenyan authorities would catch the perpetrators.

"The government offers all the collaboration that may be needed," Venezuela's foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Fonseca had a brilliant diplomatic career ... she was recognized for her impeccable personal and professional life, and for her services to just causes."

The motive for the killing was not immediately clear.

(Reporting by Drazen Jorgic and James Macharia in Nairobi and Brian Ellsworth and Daniel Wallis in Caracas; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Louise Ireland and Eric Walsh)