Kenya rival parties postpone talks to Friday: Annan

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's feuding political parties postponed negotiations brokered by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan on Thursday, hours after the killing of an opposition member of parliament.

"Because of what has happened ... we have postponed this afternoon's session and we will work all day tomorrow so that the leaders can attend to urgent matters," Annan told reporters.

MP David Kimutai was killed by a traffic police officer in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret on Thursday. Police called it a "crime of passion" but the opposition said it was a political assassination.

Political and ethnic violence has killed 850 people in Kenya since a disputed December 27 election returned President Mwai Kibaki to power, prompting frantic mediation efforts.

(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Nick Tattersall)