Tension as Baringo residents flee armed bandits

Thousands of Baringo’s Mochongoi and Marigat areas have been forced to flee after armed bandits raided Loruk area Sunday, December 25 night stealing hundreds of cattle.

The attack came hours after over 100 heavily armed bandits believed to be from the neighbouring Pokot region overrun an Administration Police Camp on Christmas Day, injuring several police officers who have since been airlifted to Nairobi for specialized treatment.

Following the assault on the AP Camp, residents of Kiserian, Mukutani and Noosukro were given a seven-hour ultimatum to vacate as police combed the area in search of the stolen livestock.

Baringo Administration Police Commander, Robinson Ndiwa, told Citizen Digital that more police officers have been deployed in the region to help deal with the cattle rustling menace.

Francis Ole Kidogo, a resident of Mochongoi, said that they are spending sleepless nights fearing that the bandits may strike anytime.

He says that there is need for more police officers to be deployed to the area to deal with the situation once and for all.

Baringo County has been marked as a banditry hotspot with several attacks being carried out by suspected members of the neighbouring community.

Cases of retaliatory attacks in Baringo, Samburu, Pokot, Laikipia and Turkana have also been on the rise in the recent past with the government pointing out to a possible political incitement.

The raid on an AP Camp by the bandits comes barely two years after over 40 police officers were killed by bandits in Suguta Valley while pursuing stolen livestock.