More than 300 camel herding families were evicted by security officers from their Enyali settlement inside the South Kitui National Reserve on Tuesday.
Houses, mosques, shops, schools and other structures were flattened by bulldozers that arrived at the settlements early morning accompanied by heavily armed police officers.
The settlement was raided at the expiry of an ultimatum issued by Kitui county commissioner John Odengo.
Odengo visited the area three weeks ago in the company of the county security team and issued the eviction order.
The move followed the killing of three locals by the herdsmen last month.
The administrator said that the game reserve was a protected area and no persons were allowed to live in it.
He asked the illegal occupants to leave at will before the expiry of the ultimatum lest they be forced out.
On Tuesday a contingent of regular and General Service Unit officers under the command of Mutomo subcounty police commander, Martin Kagala, executed the evictions.
Families that were affected by the eviction travelled towards the neighbouring Tana River county with their livestock.
In a statement issued by the Kitui East MP, Nimrod Mbai from Stockholm, Sweden the legislator praised the government for the eviction exercise.
He said the evictions will go a long way in stemming banditry in the area.
Mbai's constituency had borne the brunt of frequent banditry activities allegedly occasioned by the encroaching herders.
He asked Kitui residents to be wary because the fleeing herders may turn on them in retaliatory attacks.
Kitui county secretary Joshua Chepchieng said yesterday that the county government had provided the bulldozers for the demolitions.
