More than 200 families have been forced to evacuate their manyattas at Lopii village in Turkana East constituency along the banditry prone border of Turkana and Baringo counties due to recurrent cattle rustling attacks.
The mass exodus of families to Lokichar Township for their safety, situated 50 kilometres away from the scene of the recent attack has forced two public primary schools to shut down indefinitely leaving the fate of over 600 learners in limbo.
The heavily armed bandits suspected to be Pokot, took hostage a police camp for two hours during last week’s Thursday incident before fleeing with 150 cattle and 80m camels towards Tiaty constituency in the neighboring Baringo county.
Turkana Commander Police Commander Samuel Ndanyi confirmed the incident and said that one security officer was seriously injured during an exchange of gunfire between the security personnel and the bandits.
Ndanyi said that the bandits escaped with several gunshot wounds after being overpowered by a contingent of administration and regular police who were backed by anti-stock theft unit personnel.
“The bandits who numbered 100 sprayed gun shots at three police vehicles injuring one officer before they were overpowered during a fierce exchange of gunfire. We are yet to recover the stolen animals,” said Ndanyi who was speaking to Mwanahabari.co.ke on phone.
The police chief assured the fleeing families that security had been restored in the affected village following the beefing up of security in the volatile border region between Turkana and Baringo counties.
“I am calling upon the displaced families to return back to their manyattas as their security will be guaranteed following the deployment of more police officers in the area to help track down the bandits and secure the local residents,” assured Ndanyi.
The County police Commander’s assurance come as tension remained high along the volatile border for the sixth consecutive days as the families continued to move to safer areas
Joseph Ekai, who is one of the victims of the latest attack, said they fear going back to their abandoned homes due to revenge attacks that have become the order of the day in the region.
“The raiders who are heavily armed have threatened to come back and take the remaining animals by force and that is why that they will carry out another attack and asked the government to accuse the government.
Last year, the same village was attacked by suspected cattle rustlers who ambushed a contingent of security officers, killing 8 people on the spot before escaping with an unknown number of animals.
The officers were forced to take cover as the heavily armed cattle rustler’s sprayed their vehicles with bullets forcing the families to flee their homes due to fear of fresh attacks