Tension is high in Tot, Kerio Valley, after three people were shot dead by armed attackers in a fresh bandit attack.
The Thursday evening incident happened when some armed criminals staged a bandit attack near Tot Shopping Centre where locals normally graze their livestock.
According to Kerio Valley sub-County Police Commander Zablon Okoyo, the six attackers raided the area, made away with more than 11 cattle and drove them towards the neighbouring Tiaty West sub-County.
“As the stolen livestock were being driven towards Kerio River on the border of Baringo and Turkana Counties, another group waylaid three people who were riding on a motorcycle — a rider and two women who were pillion passengers heading to Tot from Kolowa market in Tiaty West,” said Mr Okoyo.
The two women, he said, were shot dead on the spot, a few metres from the dreaded Kerio River Bridge, while the motorcyclist escaped with gunshot injuries but the attackers pursued him as he ran to the bush and killed him.
The sub-county Police Commander said that because of the drought, many herders have moved to Kerio River with their livestock in search of water and pasture.
“When the guns went silent, some two individuals reported that 11 of their livestock had been stolen during the attack. We are still pursuing the bandits to recover the stolen livestock and arrest them as well. The bodies of the two women and the rider have been moved to the Tot Sub-County Hospital,” he said, adding that an operation was underway to flush out the attackers.
“They should not engage in revenge attacks. We have also up scaled our routine patrols and we assure them of their safety,” said Mr Okoyo.
The incident happened barely a week after another attack was staged in in the insecurity prone Loruk on the border of Baringo North and Tiaty West where a man was shot dead by armed attackers who also made away with 20 of his cattle.
The locals raised an alarm and security officers stationed at Loruk Police Station responded and pursued the attackers.
Richard Chepchomei, a local, indicated that the search team, for safety reasons, postponed their mission when darkness fell until the following day.
“On Monday, the group continued in pursuing the bandits who had fled with the stolen livestock towards Paka Hills in the neighbouring Tiaty East,” said Mr Chepchomei.
When they reached Riong’o Village, the group came into contact with the bandits who ambushed and shot at them indiscriminately.
During the attack, Musa Chemursoi, 55, who had accompanied the officers to identify the stolen livestock, was shot on the head during the ambush and died on the spot.
Tension remained high in Loruk following the fresh bandit attack in the insecurity prone area that had experienced relative calm for close to a year.
The residents are now living in fear of more attacks and are appealing to the government to heighten security and patrols in the area to avoid recurrence of attacks in the region that had claimed the lives of a number of people, loss of property and displacement of people from their homes over the years.
They blamed the government for failing to flush out illegal herders that had started to invade the area including Lemuyek, chebirmok, Loyamorok, Ng’aratuko villages since the beginning of the year, in the guise of looking for pasture.
The fresh attack happened barely two weeks after President William Ruto toured Kerio Valley in a bid to celebrate the gains they have achieved in bringing normalcy in the insecurity region.
