- The officers said they engaged the gang in a shootout for several minutes in the 7 pm incident.
- The officers managed to drive back towards the Malkagala area and back to the station with the injured and the body.
Image: The Star
A police officer was Monday night shot and killed while three others sustained serious bullet wounds in an ambush by gunmen in Degogicha area, Merti, Isiolo county.
The attackers are believed to be narcotics or human trafficking gangs operating on the Isiolo-Moyale route, police said.
A group of 11 officers were patrolling Matarba, Nanu and Cutline areas on board a Land Cruiser and on reaching the Degogicha area they came under a gun attack.
The officers said they engaged the gang in a shootout for several minutes in the 7 pm incident.
Constable Michael Kimanzi was fatally shot on the left side of his body with the bullet exiting on the right side of his abdomen.
Another officer was shot in the shoulder and the bullet exited from the back.
Police said his condition was serious. A second officer was shot in his left thigh and the condition is serious, police said.
The third officer was hit in the left knee.
The other seven officers were not injured but their vehicle was damaged on the right door and had an oil leak.
The officers managed to drive back towards the Malkagala area and back to the station with the injured and the body.
The injured officers were attended to at Merti subcounty hospital and referred to Isiolo County Referal Hospital.
The body was moved to Meru for preservation ahead of a planned autopsy.
It is the latest and new form of defiance on the side of the smugglers who are increasingly becoming bold in their business.
The route from Moyale-Marsabit to Isiolo is usually used in human smuggling and drug trafficking amid efforts by authorities to tame the trend.
Most of the victims are running away from Ethiopia and Eritrea to Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and the Middle East for jobs.
The smugglers and drug traffickers have resorted to using the cutline route in the bush in order to avoid the Isiolo-Moyale highway which is manned by multi-sectoral agencies that include police from Anti-Narcotics Unit and sometimes the army.