Manhunt underway after suspected bandits kill 4 in northern Kenya

Nairobi, KENYA

Kenyan police said on Sunday they had launched a major manhunt for suspected bandits who killed four herdsmen in a village in Marsabit County in northern Kenya.

Benjamin Mwanthi, Marsabit Central divisional police commander, said the four were killed on Saturday afternoon by gunmen as they took their animals to Jaica watering point.

“We have launched investigations into the incident that includes pursuit for the suspects so that they can face the full force of the law,” said the local police commander.

Mwanthi said the incident which had shocked local residents happened near Jaica wells, adding that the victims died on the spot and the attackers escaped soon after committing the crime.

The killings brought the number of casualties from banditry attacks involving use of illicit guns in Marsabit County to 20 in the last week.

On Saturday, Kenyan Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said the government had embarked on changing its national security doctrines to decisively address the escalating conflict in the counties of Marsabit and Wajir.

Matiang’i said the deployment of more police resources has begun.

Speaking in Nairobi after receiving the security officers who were injured when a police helicopter crashed at Kithoka area in Meru on Saturday morning, Matiang’i pointed out that the protracted inter-clan violent conflict in the region is increasingly becoming thorny and the government will turn to alternative means to bring about sanity.