- Chief Inspector Philip Roy the officer in charge of GSU Arabal Base was wounded on his left lower hand part.
- He was rushed to Marigat Sub County Hospital in a stable condition before being transferred to Baringo County Referral Hospital, police said.
Image: The Star
A 20-year-old man was shot dead in an ambush by bandits in Embossos area, Marigat, Baringo County.
The gunmen also shot and injured a senior General Service Unit officer who was leading a responding team to the scene.
This is the latest such incident in the area which has displaced thousands from an area believed to be having significant value in terms of minerals deposits.
Police said the victim was clearing bushes in the area for farming on Thursday, March 28 evening when he was confronted and shot at close range.
He was identified as Patrick Kipkurwo, 20.
Other locals who were with him scampered for safety on hearing the gunshots.
Police said security agents deployed in the general area responded promptly to the incident and countered the gang prompting a shootout.
Chief Inspector Philip Roy the officer in charge of GSU Arabal Base was wounded on his left lower hand part.
He was rushed to Marigat Sub County Hospital in a stable condition before being transferred to Baringo County Referral Hospital, police said.
The attackers fled the scene.
The body of the deceased with a gunshot wound in the head was ferried to Nyahururu County Referral Hospital Mortuary awaiting autopsy.
They are concerned about the trend of the attacks with theories those behind the attacks are targeting valuable land in the area.
Two weeks ago, interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki met a group of local leaders as part of efforts to address the menace.
He said the government is continuously engaging with various stakeholders and reviewing the interventions required to address historical, current and emerging security challenges from the grassroots, upwards to the national level.
Kindiki said the meeting was meant to identify the gaps and generate consensus on strategies to win the war against banditry and livestock rustling.
More than 70 people have been killed in separate attacks in the region in the past months amid calls to address the menace of banditry.
This comes amid sustained operations by the multi-agency teams against the incidents.
Kindiki has been leading the operations in the area vowing to end the menace.
Kindiki said cattle rustling in Northern Kenya has over the years become an organised criminal enterprise responsible for deaths, poverty and displacement.
“Its impacts are severe. It deprives pastoral communities of their economic mainstay and aggravates the conditions of poverty in the rangelands, fuelling communal grievances and revenge attacks,” he said.
To dismantle the infrastructure of cattle rustlers and facilitators he said, the government is sustaining the war on banditry and its perpetrators, enablers, benefactors and beneficiaries by making banditry a painful venture, ensuring recovery of stolen livestock and rewarding facilitators of recoveries.