Armed bandits kill three in Saturday daytime attack

Bandits West Samburu

Three people were killed in Lkeek Sabuk area in Samburu West after armed bandits raided several villages on Saturday.

Photo credit: Geoffrey Ondieki | Nation Media Group

Three people have been killed in Lkeek Sabuk area in Samburu West after armed bandits raided several villages in the region.

The killings that happened on Saturday morning are coming at a time the KDF and GSU officers are combing the area to flush out bandits.

The deceased include an area chief and two locals in the region.

Bodies of the three victims were taken to the Samburu County Hospital Mortuary awaiting postmortem examinations.

Locals said the bandits from a neighbouring community raided more than three villages and drove away hundreds of livestock.

Police sources told the Nation.Africa that some security officers sustained gunshot injuries in the battle with the bandits.

"We were attacked by bandits in the morning. We are now hopeless because if the military cannot stop these people, then who will?" posed Jackson Lanyasunya, a local resident.

Efforts by the Nation.Africa to get comments on the attacks were futile.

"Get more information from the command centre," said a senior administrator.

The attack came a few hours after three security personnel were ambushed by bandits in the same area and sustained serious gunshot injuries.

Reports indicate that two military officers from the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) and one from the General Service Unit (GSU) have been airlifted to Nairobi for further medical attention.

The injured officers were on normal patrol duties when bandits attacked their vehicles in Lkeek Sabuk in Samburu West Constituency on Friday.

"The officers were ambushed by armed bandits who opened fire. We saw a chopper which airlifted them," said a reliable source on the ground.

A multi-agency team drawn from the KDF and the National Police Service are pursuing the bandits to recover the animals stolen by bandits.

In the past few days, armed bandits have carried out daring attacks in Pura, Nolkerra, Lkeik-Sabuk, Ndikir and Tinga villages driving away hundreds of livestock down the valley.

The latest daring attack was on Thursday when suspected bandits hit Tinga village in Samburu West before stealing livestock from three different homesteads in the region.

The livestock was, however, recovered following interventions from the national police reservists (NPR) and other security forces.

A section of Samburu West, Lorroki and Malaso divisions, is among those placed under dusk-to-dawn curfew as police teams, backed by the military moved to pacify the area.