•The victims working on a bridge were being escorted home by officers when the bandits ambushed them.
• About 10 people have been killed in Kapedo since August last year.
Image: JOSEPH KANGOGO
A police officer and two other people were shot dead and 14 others injured by Pokot bandits on Monday in Kapedo on the Border of Baringo and Turkana counties.
A senior Baringo security source said eight casualties were rushed to a private Nakuru private hospital, while six were treated at Kapedo Health Centre and discharged.
“Three bodies of two civilians and one of our officers are currently lying at the Baringo County Referral Hospital Mortuary in Kabarnet," he told the Star on the phone. He asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
He said the victims, the Turkanas, were working on the construction of a bridge at Kwamosing near Lomelo in Turkana East subcounty.
“Our officers were always assigned to the casuals to the site so on Monday while they were on their way back home at around 4pm, they were ambushed," he said. No livestock were stolen.
The attack took place barely a month after a suspected Turkana bandit killed three Pokot women and a child at Kapau in Tiaty, near volatile Kapedo on December 2.
“We, therefore, suspect this could be a retaliatory attack,” the police source said, adding that the contentious Kapedo area administratively lies in Turkana East subcounty.
Earlier Baringo police commander Robinson Ndiwa and the commissioner Henry Wafula had denied knowledge of the fatal Kapedo attacks, terming the reports "propaganda".
“I am not aware and I have said over and over I don’t rely on mere propaganda from politicians, especially MCAs,” Wafula said.
On December 3, Tirioko Ward MCA Sam Lokales said at least 10 people including children have been killed in Kapedo since August last year.
He and his colleagues criticised the security officers for failing to stop the upsurge Kapedo killings, terming the failure a demonstration of ignorance by the government.
“Our Pokot people have been attacked several times by the Turkana bandits without any response by the government. It sounds like the state believes we (Pokots) are well armed and so we have the capacity to protect ourselves” Lokales said.
He was backed by the assembly Deputy Speaker Ameja Zelemoi (Churo-Amaya MCA), Nelson Lotela (Silale) and Shedrack Mailuk (Tangulbei-Korossi).
“We had the sixth attack by December last year while the Turkana and Baringo security team turned deaf ears," Zelemoi said.
On November 5 2019, suspected Turkanas also raided Atirir and Chepkilowon villages in Tirioko ward, Tiaty subcounty, killing two herders before driving away 4,000 goats, 300 cows and 70 camels belonging to six families.
Lotela said last week Turkana bandits shot dead a 12-year old boy and made away with 50 camels.
“We cannot sit back and watch as our people are robbed of their only source of livelihood and rendered poor,” Lotela said.
Apart from frequent bandits attack, the MCAs blamed unresolved boundary dispute between the warring Pokot and Turkana pastoral communities for the persistent Kapedo attacks.
They appeal to the Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i to intervene and stop the inter-tribal clashes on the disputed Kapedo border.
On November 2, 2014, 21 APs were murdered in an ambush in Kapedo, Turkana.
(Edited by V. Graham)
Image: JOSEPH KANGOGO