Iteere blames commanders for Samburu raid

By Joylene Sing'oei

SAMBURU, KENYA: The bodies of police officers killed in Samburu bandit attack have been flown to Nairobi with Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere blaming officers who were in charge of the operation .

The 24 bodies of the officers arrived at Wilson Airport on Tuesday afternoon and were received by Iteere.

He absolved himself of any blame on the horrific incident saying that the buck stops with the ground commanders.

“I will not take responsibility of the attack by resigning because the buck stops with the ground commanders who carried out the operation”, the police boss said.

“We suspect intelligence of the operation by the police leaked to the attackers”, said Iteere.

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The officers were killed on Saturday after an attack by bandits that left 42 out of 107 officers deployed to track down armed cattle rustlers dead.

Cattle rustlers suspected to be from Turkana had stolen cattle from Samburu and drove them towards Suguta valley.

The officers were trying to recover the stolen cattle when they encountered the armed bandits.

Some of the survivors of the tragedy were flown to Nairobi for specialised treatment while others are recuperating at Maralal district hospital.