By Lucas Ng’asike

The Government has recovered 20 bodies of the Todonyang massacre that occurred along the Kenya–Ethiopia border on Monday.

The bodies, mostly women and children with gunshot wounds, were littered in the plains of Todonyang in Turkana North, one Kilometre from Todonyang police post.

The bodies were recovered as 50 other people were reported missing and some of them are feared dead.

Two other people including a woman who survived the ordeal by lying down and pretending to be dead were nursing serious gunshots wounds at a local hospital.

On Wednesday, the Government confirmed that the Merille militia from Ethiopia killed 20 Turkana pastoralists inside Kenyan territory when they were returning home from a barter trade at the border point.

Among the dead were 20 Kenyans killed by the Merille militia and four of their own killed by the Turkana in retaliation.

Rift Valley PC Osman Warfa had earlier indicated that 37 Turkanas had been killed while a cleric had also said five Merille militia had been killed, bringing the total to 42.

The youngest victim of the attack was a three-week-old boy whose head had been shattered with a bullet and was found with his intestines protruding from his stomach, that were being devoured by vultures.

Another body had been devoured completely by vultures and other wild animals but the other 19 bodies were still intact, although the eyes, especially of the women age between 20 and 25 years, had been gouged out.

The bodies were lying stark naked on the plain grounds near villages inhabited by the Merille militia at Natira area along the border. The attackers had removed neck beads, Ornaments and clothes from the women’s dead bodies.

Security team

A security team led by Rift Valley PC and Turkana North MP John Munyes flew into the area on Tuesday and encountered the remains of the victims.

"We have seen the bodies and we have confirmed the execution was carried out at one point inside the Kenyan border," Warfa said at the scene.

The PC and the security team were, however, forced to leave the area in a huff after suspected members of the militia started advancing to where they were and started opening fire to nearby villages.

Later, Todonyang Catholic Priest, father Stephen Ochineg called Munyes’s aide, Mr Moses Ikoel to report that they had abandoned five bodies after the militia surrounded them.

"The priest called and informed me that they were forced to flee and abandon five bodies on the scene," he told The Standard.

Munyes, however, vowed to return to the scene and ensure that all bodies were collected and taken to the Todonyang Catholic Mission Church awaiting a mass burial.

The MP feared that if left uncollected, the bodies were likely to be tampered with by the militia who culturally remove male organs and take them back home as a show of bravery.

"I know the Merille kill the Turkana and remove private organs. They do this every August when they are circumcising their young ones. These are actually ritual killings which we cannot be accepted," Munyes said.

Shockingly, not even a single spent bullet cartridge was recovered from the scene, an indication that the militia accomplished their mission and collected the spent cartridges.

A resident said the attack was a well-organised execution, which was carried out in a broad daylight.

Warfa said the Government would work out ways to flush out the militia from Kenyan soil.

The area MP John Munyes echoed his sentiments during a press briefing in Lodwar.

The PC said Ethiopian authorities have been informed of the killings.

"I am very optimistic that something will be done by the two governments to address the escalating insecurity in Todonyang along Kenya-Ethiopia border," he said.

The PC commended the Catholic Church for their frantic efforts to house several families in a church compound after they were displaced by the attack.

A mass burial is set to be conducted as soon as the relatives of the victims are identified.