Four shot and injured, 2 missing in Turkana bandit attack

Four people were shot and wounded and two reported missing after armed bandits staged a daring dawn attack on Lorogon village in Turkana South sub-county on Saturday.

Turkana County Commissioner Jacob Ouma confirmed that the village was attacked but said the details are scanty.

Mr Gilbert Kerio, a resident, said that at around 6am, bandits from the neighbouring West Pokot County ambushed them as they grazed their livestock in the area.

"I was among those who had taken goats and sheep for routine feeding. We didn't we know bandits had laid an ambush. They started firing indiscriminately at us. Four of us were injured and as at 9 am, two of us were still missing," Mr Kerio said.

"We rushed the injured to Lorogon Dispensary and requested help to transport them to Lodwar County Referral Hospital for specialised treatment. We are also searching for the missing two.”

He added all the livestock were driven towards Kasses village that is inhabited by the Pokot community.

Residents often drive all their livestock to the nearby Turkwel River early in the morning to feed on the highly nutritious seed pods from acacia trees. They fall to the ground as it has been windy, making for a good alternative given the scarcity of pasture mind a prolonged drought

When the nights are not windy, long poles are used to shake branches until enough pods fall off. Residents said the acacia trees were also benefiting livestock from West Pokot County, but that on Saturday, herders from there did not turn up.

Mr Kerio said no response from the nearby General Service Unit and Anti Stock Theft Unit camps.

Residents and leaders accused the security officers of failing to respond to the attack the same way they did to one last week – two military helicopters were dispatched for a mission to recover stolen livestock at Kalemngorok village.

Residents reported aerial bombing at a livestock market near the Kalemngorok seasonal river and retrieval of the bullet-riddled bodies of two men from the bushes. They said four people were injured.

Mr James Kisike, who lives in Kalemngorok said: "Why is it that when a village in West Pokot is reported to have been attacked, the government deploys military response, but when a vulnerable village like Lorogon, where all residents were disarmed, is attacked, not even officers from the nearby camps respond?"

Ms Margaret Arot, Turkana South’s Maendeleo Ya Wanawake chair, noted that if the livestock are not found, the affected families will be poor and vulnerable as women are afraid to go to farms to collect firewood or burn charcoal for sale.

Turkana Governor Jeremiah Lomorukai, who condemned last week’s aerial bombing at Kalemngorok village, called for the investigation of officers in the National Police Service and the Kenya Defence Forces, who he accused of favoritism in response to attacks.

"There is a link between some senior leaders from West Pokot, who, when they need a response, even the military acts promptly, with bombs and sophisticated weapons. It is inhumane for the military to use bombs against innocent civilians. Some residents, among them children, and livestock were wounded during the incident," Mr Lomorukai said.

He asked the multi-agency security team in Turkana South to immediately find all stolen livestock and deal decisively with the bandits.

Baringo attack

In Baringo County on Friday evening, bandits staged a fresh attack at Chemoring’ion village in the volatile Baringo South and stole more than 17 goats.

The attack happened as Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki launched the second phase of a security operation to mop up illegal guns and restore sanity in the North Rift region.

Despite efforts by the state to deploy a multi-agency team to flush out the armed criminals, attacks continue to be reported in the porous counties in the region.

Baringo County Police commander Julius Kiragu said the bandits suspected to be from the neighbouring Tiaty sub-county ambushed herders on a grazing field just few meters from Chemorongion shopping center.

Security officers deployed to beef up security in the troubled area responded and a fierce shootout between them and the criminals ensued before they were repulsed and all the goats recovered.

“The bandits ambushed herders who were grazing more than 42 goats. They stole 17 goats but their mission was thwarted by police officers who repulsed them. The bandits fled towards Korkoron hills within the locality, which is believed to be their hideout,” said Mr Kiragu.

The attack happened barely five days after bandits staged a daytime retaliatory attack in the volatile Seretion villag,  some few kilometers from the area, injuring a police reservist and making away with over 200 head of livestock.

 It has since been confirmed that the attack happened after the joint military and police teams deployed to carry out disarmament in the area bombed the dreaded Korkoron and Tandar Hills on Friday morning in a bid to smoke out the bandits. The hills are among the bandits’ hideouts.   

Locals confirmed spotting two military helicopters flying above the two hills on Friday morning and bombing them for close to two hours.

“Three hours later, we were taken aback when we saw the bandits come out of their hideouts to graze their livestock at the top of the hills as usual, making us wonder what the bombs were targeting,” said a reverend, Richard Ng’etuny.

As if spitting in the face of the security teams on the ground, the armed criminals suspected to be from the neighbouring Tiaty attacked Seretion at 1pm, and drove an unknown number of stolen livestock towards the Korkoron Hills in the same locality. 

The injured police reservist was among officers who responded to the attack. He sustained a gunshot injury.

Seretion village is among areas in Baringo County gazetted by the government as dangerous and disturbed.

A shootout among the attackers, police reservists and Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) officers stationed at Kasiela persisted after the incident.

Outgoing Baringo County Commissioner Abdirisack Jaldesa confirmed the incident, saying initial reports indicated that a police reservist sustained a gunshot injury in the attack and that livestock was driven towards the Korkoron hills.

On Friday, CS Kindiki announced that the second phase of the joint security operation in the six troubled counties in the North Rift would begin Saturday.

“I assure Kenyans that the exercise will deal with the armed criminals wreaking havoc in the North Rift once and for all,” he told members of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defense at Sawela Lodge in Naivasha, Nakuru County.

On February 13, the government gazetted Baringo, Turkana, Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot, Samburu, and Laikipia counties as disturbed and dangerous and imposed a 30-day dusk-to-dawn curfew.

The government ordered a multi-agency security operation and deployed the military to help police smoke out bandits and seize illegal guns in the hands of civilians in the six counties in the North Rift, following incessant flare-ups of attacks.

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