14 people have been killed in Suyan area, Samburu North in a gunfight involving cattle rustlers and herders.
Police reports indicate that bandits engaged herders in a 17-hour gunfight which started in the wee hours of Thursday morning, November 4.
Confirming the incident, Samburu County Commissioner Abdrisack Jaldesa stated that the administration had released a contingent of police officers to pursue the raiders and recover the stolen livestock.
“A team has been sent out to mop out the remaining raiders who did that attack last night and trail animals that have not been traced,” he said.
1000 heads of cattle were also stolen after the daring attack that also left scores injured.
Samburu County experienced a similar attack early this month when bandits ambushed a 40-year old man and his nine-year-old son in Porro market. The seven gunmen had launched the raid in broad daylight killing the two before fleeing with their cattle.
On October 16, 2021, raiders in Elgeyo Marakwet launched a midday attack in Kerio Valley, gunning down a mother and her two sons who were harvesting millet on their farm. The victim had lost her husband in a similar banditry attack.
The county had also been hit hard by banditry atrocities, with tens of people killed in Olmoran since gunmen stormed the area in early September.
The government deployed police officers in the area to beef up security after these incidences that left several homes torched, schools closed and hundreds of people displaced.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiang’i who visited the Olmoran region during the protracted tension, promised residents that the government would be keen to restore order in the disputed area.
The daring bandits staged an attack two kilometers away from where the CS held a meeting, forcing the security officers present at the event to respond.
Although the government believes that politicians rally their tribesmen to launch attacks against their neighboring communities, victims in the pastoralist communities are yet to see perpetrators being convicted.
Tiaty Member of Parliament William Kamket was arrested and arraigned following the Laikipia skirmishes and was later released by the court on bail.
