Tension high after raiders kill four in attack on village

Residents on the Turkana-Pokot border are living in fear after four of their own were killed in a village raid.

The victims’ bodies were found in a grazing field on Saturday after over 100 armed bandits attacked Kotaruk Village in Loima Sub-county, on Friday.

Sub-county administrator Titus Ekiru said a 12-year-old boy was among the dead following a fierce exchange of fire between the bandits and police reservists, who tried to repulse the invaders and recover the stolen livestock.

About 200 camels and an unknown number of sheep and goats were driven away along the porous border.

“Some of the raiders drove the stolen animals towards Ombolion and Kacheliba in West Pokot County as the rest fought with police reservists and herders,” Chief Emmanuel Simale said.

Mr Ekiru led residents in search of missing herders, only to stumble on the bodies in different locations of a grazing field.

TENSIONS HIGHTENED

“The few animals recovered were the ones that had been shot and those that had lost track of the rest, which were driven towards West Pokot,” he said.

Mr Simale said intelligence reports identified two centres where the animals were driven to.

He said villagers are now living in fear following the attack.

Loima herders asked security officers in West Pokot to help recover the stolen animals. On Tuesday last week, it was reported that suspected raiders from Turkana attacked Ombolion Location in West Pokot County.

The raiders stole over 300 goats, heightening tension between Pokots and Turkanas.

Loima MP Protus Akuja, asked the government to send soldiers to the border.