“Tension is high. The place is becoming unbearable and people had to flee for their lives,” she said. Four of those killed in the Thursday dawn attack were students – one was from Kiserian primary, Sokotei primary (two), Sokotei secondary (one) schools.
Shikamoi said the fifth victim was a National Police Reservist, who was on routine security patrol. “The children were home for the mid-term break and they had gone to the herders in the grazing field, before they met their deaths,” she said. Shikamoi said they hope to return to Arabal once things normalise. Arabal, which is rich in pasture, is inhabited by the Tugen and Ilchamus. Baringo county police commander Robinson Ndiwa said the attackers raided two temporary shelters in the bush at 3am.
“They drove away a number of livestock but we managed to recover all through the efforts of residents, the GSU, RDU and NPR,” he said. Ndiwa said the attack was a surprise because the place had been peaceful and the herders had let their guard down and left their animals to graze freely.
MP Charles Kamuren urged the government to beef up security. “My people demand peace so I appeal to the security department to take charge and flush out the bandits,” he said. Kamuren said a disarmament operation should be carried out. The legislator urged Interior CS Fred Matiang’i to weed out the criminals to prevent a “return to the dark days”.
“My constituency was peaceful. We had succeeded in helping the government resettle the displaced victims of insecurity back to Mukutani,” Kamuren said.