At least 13 people were killed during anti-government protests in Kenya on Tuesday, the Kenya Medical Association (KMA) said on Wednesday morning.
"So far, we have at least 13 people killed, but this is not the final number," KMA President Simon Kigondu told the AFP news agency, warning that the figure could yet increase.
"We have never seen such a level of violence against unarmed people," he said of the police response to protests that erupted over proposed tax hikes.
After thousands of protesters stormed and burned a section of Kenya's parliament building on Tuesday, police responded with gunfire.
Civil society groups say more than 100 people were injured. It remains unclear how many arrests were made.
An official at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi said on Wednesday that it was treating "160 people ... some of them with soft tissue injuries, some of them with bullet wounds."
Police fire blanks in Nairobi suburb
Kenyan police have said they fired over 700 blank rounds to disperse protesters in the Nairobi suburb of Githurai overnight into Wednesday morning.
Videos of gunfire piercing the night air were shared online and reported by local media.
Meanwhile, Kenyan military personnel were deployed in the capital's central business district to support police after President William Ruto vowed in an evening address to quash unrest "at whatever cost."
'Deaths, mayhem' and 'pandemonium' — Kenyan media on Wednesday morning
Kenyans woke up on Wednesday morning with the smell of tear gas still lingering across the capital, Nairobi, after some of the most violent protests seen in decades.
The front page of the Standard newspaper spoke of "deaths" and "mayhem," while the Daily Nation described "pandemonium." It said "the foundations of the country have been shaken to the core" but called for dialogue, saying: "Let's reason together."
The Nation documented protests in at least 35 of Kenya's 47 counties, from big cities to rural areas, including President Ruto's hometown of Eldoret in his ethnic Kalenjin heartland, demonstrating the extent to which protests have cut across Kenya's geographic, social and ethnic landscape.
On Tuesday night, local broadcaster Citizen TV hosted a discussion entitled "A nation on the brink," which featured panelists calling on the government to engage with protesters.
However, after some limited back-pedaling on some proposed tax increases last week, Ruto does not appear inclined to offer further concessions.
In a briefing late on Tuesday night, he likened some demonstrators to "criminals" and warned that he would crack down on "violence and anarchy."
On Wednesday morning, a policeman guarding broken barricades told the AFP news agency that Tuesday's events were "madness" and said, "We hope it will be calm today."
