Days after President William Ruto ordered the deployment of Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) officers to bandit-prone areas, armed bandits on Sunday, February 26, staged a night attack in Lomelo, Turkana County.
Reports indicated that the attack began minutes before midnight, forcing the residents to leave their homes whereas some spent the night in the cold and others fled to the neighbouring village for safety.
The attackers opened fire aimlessly before torching the village fence aimlessly.
Residents who spoke to the press intimated that they woke up to screams and a huge fire that had engulfed the fence.
“I got out of the house to see a huge fire consuming our fence. Confused and in darkness, everyone was running for their safety, with some assuming responsibility of evacuating children, the elderly, and the disabled from houses near the fence to the centre of the village," one of the residents stated.
Confirming the incident to the media, Sylvester Ekidor, the Lomelo village administrator, pointed out that no resident was harmed during the attack.
He, however, condemned the KDF for not coming to their aid during the Sunday incident. He added that the bandits had staged a fifth successful attack on the village despite stern warnings from the Kenya Kwanza administration.
The administrator detailed that the solution would be an effective disarmament operation across bandit-prone areas.
"Without an operation that is aimed at forcefully disarming the bandits.. residents of Lomelo, Nadome, Akujatis, and Napeitom villages will not appreciate the existence of a security operation,” he added.
The locals insisted that the sustained attacks by the bandits aimed at extending their territory and forcefully evicting the residents.
Security in North Rift continues to be a nightmare 13 days after President Ruto ordered the KDF to join police in bandit-prone areas to restore peace.
On Friday, February 24, night and Saturday daytime in Samburu County, bandits engaged KDF soldiers in a shootout, leading to three fatalities.
The attacks continue despite the spirited efforts by the Kenya Kwanza administration to gain access to satellite images from the United States Government in a bid to flush out bandits in North Rift.
