Eight people including two minors were on the night of Saturday, February 26 shot dead in an ambush attack in Baringo County by Pokot herders.
This was confirmed by Baringo Deputy County Commissioner Jackton Orieny who noted that an unidentified number of people caught up in the attack are currently fighting for their lives after sustaining serious injuries.
Orieny says the incident occurred while Pokot herders were grazing in Marakwet East Sub-County.
Further, the DCC promised to deal with the insecurity concern noting that three regions were the most affected.
“Out of all the 14 counties in this region, only three namely Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot and Baringo have serious insecurity challenges and I will do all it takes to solve the issue,” Orieny stated.
In the last five months, more than 50 people have been killed in similar ambushes carried out by armed bandits.
Some of the methods the government is contemplating using include; the usage of drones to monitor how the bandits operate.
In January, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said that killers in Kapedo on the Baringo, West Pokot and Turkana border are fired up by traditional leaders and administered oaths before they carry out attacks.
Matiang’I said that intelligence reports indicated that the bandits went through a similar oath before they burnt down an armoured personnel carrier in Kasarani area, Turkana County.
This left three officers attached to the General Service Unit (GSU) badly injured.
The attack on the GSU officers took place just days after bandits murdered a GSU superintendent who was distributing relief food. The gang shot and damaged a chopper that had been flown to rescue the officers.
