• A team of National Police Reservists responded and engaged the gang in a shootout.
• Police said they recovered four cows but many more were driven away by the gunmen.
Gunmen believed to be Toposa from South Sudan raided a village in Kibish, Turkana county, and escaped with an unknown number of livestock.
Herders were grazing their animals at Lorapad Hills on Tuesday evening, when they were attacked by the raiders, police said.
A team of National Police Reservists responded and engaged the gang in a shootout.
Police said they recovered four cows but many more were driven away by the gunmen.
Security teams are still on the ground pursuing the raiders and the stolen animals, although the raiders had crossed into South Sudan, officials said.
Police suspect the gang had struck back after an earlier attempt that left one raider dead was thwarted.
On Sunday, a suspected raider was shot and killed in a botched cattle-rustling incident in Kibish.
Two herders were shot and injured in the clash on Sunday evening, police said.
The gunmen had attacked Atapar village, prompting resistance from herders assisted by officials from the National Police Reserve, police said.
The area is near the porous Kenya-South Sudan border and it usually experiences such attacks.
The injured were taken to Loblono Health Centre before being referred to Lodwar Teaching and Referral Hospital for special care.
Police said no livestock were stolen but other raiders escaped.
There is an ongoing operation in the area amid promise of more resources to enhance the exercise.
Last month, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki commissioned the first batch of modern security equipment to enhance operations in the area affected by the cattle rustling.
It included Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPs) and Armoured Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).
Operation Maliza Uhalifu in the North Rift was launched in February 2023, following continuous violent activity by bandits.
The operation is led by police forces and supported by the military in a multi-agency security team that also consists of National Police Reservists volunteers operating as supplementary forces within their communities.
Kindiki visited the area last month and announced the security situation in Turkana has improved since the commencement of Operation Maliza Uhalifu.
The recruitment, training and deployment of National Police Reservists has also significantly augmented the efforts of the formed-up units of the security agencies and resulted to normalcy on the Kitale-Lodwar highway and other areas in Turkana that were experiencing insecurity.
However, according to Kindiki, occasional attacks in the areas contiguous to the Turkana-West Pokot border and at a few points near Kenya's border with Uganda and South Sudan remain an outstanding assignment, which the government aims to address.