NAIROBI, Kenya - Some of Kenya’s most celebrated runners say they are receiving death threats because of rumors they are involved in the ethnic violence that has swept the nation following a disputed election.

Many were so worried they gathered from across the country this week in the western town of Eldoret, a running hub that has seen some of the worst violence, to discuss how to respond. The meeting ended with a statement intended to dispel the rumors.

During the meeting, William Mutwol, a bronze medalist in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 1992 Olympics, received another threat in a text message on his cell phone.

“We want your head,” the message said.

“I am scared. We are scared,” Moses Kiptanui, chairman of Athletics Kenya’s Marakwet branch, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday. “I have never engaged in politics. I am an ordinary guy. But I think Kenyans have now created a lot of enmity among themselves.”

Kiptanui said he did not know who was behind the rumors.

When President Mwai Kibaki was declared winner of the Dec. 27 presidential election, despite a vote count that international observers say was rigged, opposition supporters in the western Rift Valley that is home to most of Kenya’s athletes went on a rampage.

They torched property belonging to people from Kibaki’s Kikuyu ethnic group, and chased more than 100,000 Kikuyus from their homes in the region. Most attackers were from the Kalenjin tribe to which most runners belong.

About 700 people have been killed across the country, including former Olympic runner Lucas Sang. Marathon runner Wesly Ngetich was shot with an arrow and died on Monday, but it was not clear whether his death was linked to the election violence.

“Any Kenyan being killed isn’t what I would like to see — that is not the way to peace and that is not the way to treat each other,” middle-distance world champion Bernard Lagat told the AP by phone. “Unfortunately this is affecting everyone in the country, including runners.”

Lagat became a U.S. citizen three years ago, but most of his family, including his parents, still live in Kenya.

“I keep in touch all the time to see if they are safe, they are really safe,” Lagat said. “Kenya is my country of birth and it’s sad to see what’s happening right now, but I know for a fact that things will change for the better.”

The statement from the 57 runners who met this week says they are accused of promoting killings and the displacement of victims, of transporting guns and bows and arrows, and of encouraging the destruction of property.

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As a result, “the lives and property of (runners) ... and those of their families, servants or agents are under threat,” the statement says. “The public has been incited against the said athletes and made to believe that the said athletes are law breakers and a security threat to peace, law, order, people and property.”

Kiptanui said security agents have been following some athletes; others have been summoned to the police station for questioning.

Although many threats are anonymous, Kiptanui said he’s received threats from police officers he knows and are based at a station less than a mile from his farm in Cherangany.

He said his driver was in his car with some of his relatives when they were stopped last Saturday by six police officers.

“They told him they were looking for me because they want to kill me and after that they will also kill my drivers,” Kiptanui said.

The officers accused the driver of transporting guns and bows and arrows, Kiptanui said, but when the driver invited them to search the car, they declined.

“That’s why I am really scared — because the policemen are known to me and they know my home,” he said, adding that four of the officers were Kikuyu.

Kiptanui said he went to the police station immediately and filed a report.

The officer in charge of the district, Bernard Muli, confirmed that a complaint had been filed. Muli said officers were searching cars in the area, that Kiptanui’s car had been stopped and that the driver had complained he was threatened. He said officers were investigating the complaints.