Residents in shock as bandits kill children in Kerio Valley

Two children have been killed following the attacks in Tot area in Kerio Valley by suspected rustlers from neighbouring Baringo County.

The rustlers are reported to have made away with livestock after shooting at the children.

The victims Collins Kemboi, 12 and Kiprono Kilimo, 10, died in a hail of bullets after the rustlers opened fire at them indiscriminately on Sunday afternoon.

Kemboi was a class five pupil at Embomir Primary School while Kilimo was in class three at Chesawch Primary School, The Standard reports.

The attacks happened at the backdrop of ongoing cursing rituals conducted by elders from Marakwet, Baringo, and Pokot to punish cattle rustlers unleashing terror in the region.

The children were at a green grams farm near the Kerio River when they were ambushed and attacked by the marauding rustlers. Luckily, others escaped unhurt.

According to Nandwa Chelanga a local, over 40 heavily armed raiders who were on a raiding mission crossed Kolowa brigde, the boundary between Pokot and Marakwet communities found the children at the farm and started shooting at them.

This happens a few weeks after Matiang’i ordered the Rift Valley commander to instill peace in the warring areas over killing of residents.