Bandits stage retaliatory attack after military bombs their hideout

Bandits staged a daytime retaliatory attack in the volatile Seretion village in Mochongoi ward, Baringo South, on Sunday, injuring a police reservist and making away with over 200 head of livestock. 

It has since been confirmed that the attack happened after the joint military-police teams deployed to carry out disarmament in the area bombed the dreaded Korkoron and Tandar Hills on Friday morning in a bid to smoke out the bandits. 

The hills are among the bandits’ hideouts.    

Locals confirmed spotting two military helicopters flying around the two hills on Friday morning and bombing them for close to two hours. 

“Three hours later, we were taken aback when we saw the bandits come out of their hideouts to graze their livestock at the top of the hills as usual, making us wonder what the bombs were targeting,” said a local, The Reverend Richard Ng’etuny.

As if spitting in the face of the security teams on the ground, the armed criminals suspected to be from the neighbouring Tiaty sub-county attacked Seretion at 1pm, and driving an unknown number of stolen livestock towards the Korkoron Hills in the same locality.  

Responded to attack

The injured police reservist was among the officers who responded to the attack. He sustained a gunshot injury.

Seretion village is among areas in Baringo County gazetted by the government as dangerous and disturbed.

A shootout between the attackers, police reservists and the Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) officers stationed at Kasiela had persisted after the incident.

Baringo County Commissioner Abdirisack Jaldesa confirmed the incident, saying initial reports indicated that a police reservist sustained a gunshot injury in the attack and livestock was also driven away by the armed attackers towards the Korkoron hills.

“A police reservist sustained gunshot injury but we are yet to ascertain the extent of the injury. Livestock were also driven away by the bandits, but the officers are still engaging them to recover the herd,” said the county administrator. 

Bandits also made retaliatory attacks in Kalemng’orok, Turkana, on Saturday, killing two people and injuring at least four, after a military operation. There was gunfire at Kalemng’orok centre on the Kapenguria-Lokichar road on Saturday evening, after bandits attacked residents during curfew hours. 

The attack followed an aerial military operation earlier that left several people injured at a livestock market near the Kalemng’orok seasonal river in Turkana South.

Two military combat helicopters were earlier seen hovering over Kalemng'orok on Saturday afternoon, sparking speculation of aerial bombardments to flush out bandits terrorising the Kainuk area.

Turkana County Commissioner Jacob Ouma confirmed the presence of two military helicopters and said it was part of a targeted security operation to flush out bandits in the area. 

"The chopper came there to deal with bandits after they were keenly monitored in normal surveillance activities," Mr Ouma said. 

Security officers under a multi-agency team were deployed three weeks ago to flush out the bandits and seize illegal arms in the hands of civilians in the region.

Residents perturbed

In Baringo, the pasture-rich Korkoron area is a hideout for armed criminals who invaded it in 2021, with thousands of livestock, in the guise of looking for water and pasture. 

“We are perturbed that armed criminals can stage an attack amid an ongoing multi-agency security operation,” said the Rev Ng’etuny.

Area residents say that several bandit attacks have been staged by the criminals despite the ongoing exercise.

“We wonder why the bandits can attack villages even after being bombed. We suspect that the disarmament was a public relations stunt to hoodwink us because why did the criminals graze their livestock in the area unbothered even after the hour-long bombing?” asked the Rev Ng’etuny. 

“We also came to realize that none of their manyattas was destroyed. So the elephant in the room is, did they miss their target(s)?” he wondered. 

The residents are now afraid that they could be the targets of retaliatory attacks by the bandits coming out of the holes unscathed. 

“They are now hardened and will no doubt challenge the state by turning on the locals for revenge,” said the cleric.

'Government has failed'

“The government has failed us terribly because how can it spend millions of the taxpayers' money to deploy officers, including the military and we are still being attacked by criminals? There are some things they are not doing right,” said the cleric.

On February 13, the government gazetted Baringo, Turkana, Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot, Samburu, and Laikipia counties as disturbed and dangerous and imposed a 30-day dusk-to-dawn curfew.

The government ordered a multi-agency security operation and deployed the military to help police smoke out bandits and seize illegal guns in the hands of civilians in the six counties in the North Rift region following incessant flare-ups of attacks. 

By the start of the security operation last month, 100 civilians and 16 police officers had been killed in six months.  

While appearing before the Senate National Cohesion committee last Thursday, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said since the operation started three weeks ago, more than 43 guns, 136 rounds of ammunition, two fragmented rifle grenades and three rocket-propelled grenades had been voluntarily surrendered by civilians holding them illegally. 

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