Two policemen killed in attack on Moi farm

Two police officers were killed and three guns stolen when raiders attacked a farm associated with former president Daniel Moi in Laikipia.

The attackers ambushed five APs who were on duty at the controversial 17,000 acres Kabarak farm on Wednesday evening and sprayed them with bullets, killing two officers on the spot.

The remaining three managed to escape and fired back at the raiders, killing one. The raiders then ransacked the tin-shaped houses used by the APs and took away the three guns.

Manhunt launched

The two officers killed were resting outside their tin structures with one cleaning his boots while the other cooked.

Following the killings, security personnel from the regular police and the Kenya Wildlife Service combed the area looking for the raiders without any success.

But the team on Thursday arrested two people from manyattas outside the farm and took them to Nanyuki for interrogation.

“We collected more than a hundred bullet cartridges around this area. It is a miracle the three officers survived,” said an officer who was among the group deployed in the area but who could not be identified because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

Both Laikipia West District Commissioner Julius Mathenge and deputy OCPD Maurice Guttah declined to talk to the Nation team .

The DC reportedly left instructions that the press should not be allowed to take any pictures.

But several boots scattered the scene and holes made by bullets were still visible on the tin structures. A bloody glove also lay on the rain-drenched ground.

The officers were guarding the controversial farm to prevent Samburu squatters camping outside from returning after it changed hands.

Former President Moi sold the land to African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) in 2010 but the squatters went to court claiming ownership. The case is still pending in court.

Early this month, AWF offered the land as a gift to KWS as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations. The land is to be used to set up a national game park.

The land gift

The Nation learnt that the APs were supposed to hand over the security of the farm, which also serves as a migration corridor for wildlife from Mount Kenya, to the KWS on Thursday.

The attack might therefore have been meant to forestall the hand over. Except the APs, no one else lived in the farm after Mr Moi withdrew his workers after removing the squatters. A fence that was later erected around the fence was destroyed by the squatters.

On Thursday, more officers from the GSU, AP’s rapid deployment unit and the regular police were deployed in the area and spread the operation to neighbouring locations.

Local leaders were also visiting nearby manyattas and pleading with elders to request morans to return the three guns stolen or police would use force to recover them.