Police officers repulse daytime bandits attack in Marakwet

National Police Service officers based at Chesegon, Elgeyo Marakwet, repulsed bandits who had attacked them on Monday, June 20.

The bandits are said to be from Marakwet East Sub-County and attacked the officers who had escorted Pokot farmers to harvest mangoes on their farms along the volatile buffer zone that forms a common border with Marakwet.

The exercise progressed well until the armed bandits crossed the border and attacked the farmers.

The security team engaged the bandits in a shootout and called for reinforcement and as a result, the attackers were overpowered and repulsed.

"Normalcy was promptly restored and the farmers completed the harvesting and transported their fruits successfully," NPS said.

Earlier, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i had announced a massive disarmament operation which was to be launched alongside social development interventions to restore order in the areas and other parts of the North Rift.

“We are beginning to draw two critical exercises that we want to do which include reorganizing deployment in that area and declaration of a curfew,” he said.

On June 8, the state imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in parts of Elgeyo Marakwet, Baringo and West Pokot Counties for 30 days.

The aim was to pave way for security agencies to mount a security operation against banditry and deadly conflicts in the area.

Matiang’i added the operation and curfew which was gazetted to start on June 4 was cleared by the National Security Council to have an intensive operation similar to the one launched in Marsabit.