Five people killed as bandits attack Baringo, Samburu and Marakwet counties
Five people have been killed in separate
bandit attacks in Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet, and Samburu counties.
Bandits
ambushed and killed a 59-year-old man in Baringo North and two others in
Marakwet East, before driving away a herd of cattle.
The
man was shot as he tended to his livestock near Yatya Primary School, while the
two were ambushed and fatally shot in the Liter area in East Marakwet.
The
killings sparked protests in Kabarnet and Marigat towns, where locals lashed
out at the government for what they term a failure to stem the tide of banditry
in the area.
“It
is very unfortunate that for all these years, problems of insecurities have
been happening. Unfortunately, the local leaders have never been talking to
each other. They were busy talking to each other through the media,” Ahmed
Hussein, a community leader, said.
On
the other side of the Rift at the Samburu County Referral Hospital, relatives
were gathered outside the facility, trying to make sense of the killing of
their kin by bandits who attacked Lolmolog village on Wednesday night.
The
bandits shot and killed a man and his son, before making away with 150 cattle
that was later recovered by a contingent of security officers that repulsed the
bandits.
“Majangili
wamevamia familia na ndugu yangu mmoja marehemu sahizi...waliingilia yeye usiku
kwa nyumba wakamuua papo hapo, wakapiga mtoto risasi, ambaye tulifikisha hospitali
alikata roho akitibiwa. Kwa sasa wote wamelala hapa kwa mochari Maralal, baba
na mtoto wake mdogo,” said Shadrack Lesoipa, a brother to the deceased.
Kuntai
Lesoipa, a family member, added: “Ni uchungu sana tukiendelea kupoteza watu
kila siku, usiku na mchana, na hatuoni hata njia yoyote ambayo tunaweza saidika
kwa sababu serikali tu wanatuangalia watu wakikufa na hatuelewi ni nini. Kwa
sababu saa hizi ukipata ripoti ya hapa Samburu West, zaidi ya watu 200
wamepoteza maisha.”
Samburu
police boss Thomas Ototo said police have heightened alert levels in the area,
and asked residents to be vigilant.
The affected
areas have questioned the government’s commitment to tackling banditry in the
region, questioning how the problem still persists more than a year after the
government declared the region as disturbed and dangerous, and launched a
security operation to restore peace.
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