Three people have been killed in the Lkeek Sabuk area of Samburu West after armed bandits raided several villages.
The killings, which happened yesterday morning, came at a time when the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and General Service Unit (GSU) officers are combing the region to flush out bandits. The deceased included an area chief. Their bodies are in the Samburu County Hospital mortuary awaiting postmortem.
Locals said the bandits from a neighbouring community raided more than three villages and drove away hundreds of livestock. Police sources told the Sunday Nation 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?" asked Jackson Lanyasunya, a resident.
Efforts by the Sunday Nation to get comments by the authorities were futile. “Get more information from the command centre," said a senior administrator.
The attack came a few hours after three security officers— two soldiers and a GSU officer— were ambushed by bandits in the same area and sustained serious gunshot injuries. Reports indicate that they were airlifted to Nairobi for 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. A chopper airlifted them,” said a reliable source on the ground.
A multi-agency team drawn from the KDF and the National Police Service is pursuing the bandits to recover the animals.
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.
On Thursday, bandits hit Tinga village in Samburu West before stealing livestock from three different homesteads. The livestocks were, however, recovered following interventions by national police reservists 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