- The armed bandits had raided the Kamaringa area and made away with an unknown number of cattle/goats after injuring one of the herdsmen.
- It was then that security agencies were called to help in getting them back prompting a shootout.
Image: The Star
A man was shot and injured in a confrontation with armed bandits in Laare, Meru county.
The victim had joined police officers to fight the gunmen who had stolen his livestock.
He was shot in the upper arm and wrist during the confrontation.
All the animals, 79 goats and 41 cows that had been stolen were recovered, police said.
The bandits had raided Kamaringa village and made away with the animals.
It was then that security agencies were called to help recover the livestock prompting a shootout.
The injured man was rushed to Maua General Hospital for treatment and is in a stable condition.
There is renewed operation in the area against banditry.
Last week, four bandits who shot dead a police officer in an ambush were pursued and killed in Samburu county.
The cows the gang had stolen from Meru were recovered by the response team.
A mission to recover stolen cows on Christmas day turned tragic when a police officer was shot and killed in a shootout with bandits in Acher’s area, Samburu county.
The officers were trying to recover a herd of cattle that had been stolen from Mutuati area in Meru, police said.
Constable Victor Kosgey of General Service Unit died on the spot after he was shot in the head with a high-caliber bullet.
He was in the company of other GSU officers who had been sent to trace and recover about 100 cows that had been stolen.
During the clash, five police vehicles were hit and damaged by the bandits, police said.
On December 29 last year, the cows were handed over to security agencies at Posta, Laikipia county for delivery to owners.
The event presided over by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki.
He said cattle rustling in Northern Kenya had become an organised criminal enterprise responsible for deaths, destitution and displacement.
“Its impacts are severe. It deprives pastoral communities their economic mainstay and aggravates the conditions of poverty in the rangelands. This has fueled communal grievances and revenge attacks,” he said.
To dismantle the infrastructure of cattle rustlers and facilitators Kindiki said, the government has sustained the war on banditry and its perpetrators.
He said the government has ensured recovery of stolen livestock and rewarded facilitators of recoveries.
The CS said his ministry will run a programme to reward gallant officers and members of the public who have helped arrest bandits.
Last year, Kindiki said there are plans to impose curfew in three counties in Eastern to tame banditry.
"The operation Maliza Uhalifu we have in Turkana West Pokot and Baringo will be in done Isiolo, Samburu and Marsabit in the effort to tame banditry. We will put a curfew in the area to sort out the banditry problem," Kindiki had said.