By Paul Gitau
Ethnic violence in Tana Delta escalated as Internally Displaced Persons and those injured flocked Malindi District Hospital for treatment.
The clashes between the Pokomo and Orma communities began last week and on Tuesday gunmen attacked Kilelengwani village and shot two farmers who later died at Kipini Hospital.
Kau village was also burnt in a revenge attack by the Orma and pastoralists from Ijara in North Eastern Province. On Wednesday, four men with gunshot wounds were admitted at Malindi District Hospital.
Revenge attacks
They were ferried there by private motorists for 150km. Dr Geoffrey Mwakio said they removed bullets from their bodies while one person was taken to Coast General Hospital in Mombasa.
Speaking to journalists at the hospital bed, Ali Salim Godhana, 23, said about 30 attackers ransacked Kilelngwani early Tuesday and opened fire indiscriminately. Godhana claimed most were armed with AK47 riffles, spears and arrows. Godhana sustained injuries on the abdomen and chest.
Tana River OCPD Joseph Kavoo said police had been dispatched to the area as Tana Delta DC Antony Macharia claimed three people had died from Tuesday’s violence in Kilelengwani.
More than 50 houses of the Pokomo were torched but reports show livestock belonging to the pastoralists were killed or stolen.
