The battlefield of Kasarani where 21 police officers lost their lives

NAIROBI, KENYA: Broken twigs and sandy soil stained with dried blood attest to the struggle and pain the 21 Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) police officers experienced before they met their deaths at the hands of brutal Pokot bandits in Kasarani along the Kapedo-Lokori road.

Less than five metres from where their bodies were collected by Kenya Red Cross Society personnel is the shell of an RDU truck; it was set ablaze by the criminals after they executed the officers at around 2pm last Friday.

The bandits who killed the 21 officers first deflated the tyres of the truck, whose registration plates read GKB 188F, before they turned their guns on the officers who were squeezed inside the lorry.

Hundreds of spent cartridges, three empty bullet boxes, shoes and a 20-litre and bullet-riddled water container were the only items left behind by the pillaging attackers.

At the scene of the massacre, high vegetation surrounds the truck on both sides of the road, giving advantage to the criminals who were obviously more well-prepared than the police officers, who were oblivious to the criminals’ presence.

Approximately 5km to Kapedo is a yellow breakdown truck, registration number KYQ 299. The truck and its burnt-out cargo has been on this desolate road since October 25, when three police officers and two civilians who had come to collect the destroyed vehicles were mercilessly killed - by bandits.

The vehicle was transporting Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam papers on October 20 when it was set upon by bandits who also injured two police officers.

Since the slaughter of 21 police officers on Friday, the road has remained deserted and only military tanks have been seen making their way through the expansive grazing field, only inhabited by armed Pokot herders, surrounded by rocky hills.

ESCAPE ROUTES

Three military tanks were dispatched to seal off possible escape routes on the border of Baringo and Turkana counties, with a similar deployment taking place between Baringo and West Pokot after reports indicated the bandits were planning to flee from the targeted areas.

A 10-hour amnesty period extended to elders and professionals to convince the criminals to surrender the remaining guns lapsed at midday Wednesday as Kenya Defence Forces troops started house-to-house searches in Silale to flush out the criminals.

Hundreds of soldiers were spotted descending into rivers beds and climbing mountains east and west as they pursued the attackers, believed to be hiding in Silale Hill’s caldera with cattle, their only source of food.

A seventh gun, out of the 21 G3 rifles stolen from the slain officers, was surrendered to the Government Wednesday as residents pleaded with the State to suspend the exercise.

Tiaty Sub-county Deputy County Commissioner Daniel Kurui said they were expecting about 10 guns from Akoret by the end of Wednesday.

“The Government must search for criminals and stop generalising this issue. Innocent children and women are suffering because those implementing the President’s directive are attacking homes instead of criminal hideouts,” said Brian Lokolya.

Mr Lokolya is among hundreds of villagers who have been spending nights in the cold since the military started the airstrikes on Monday in the expansive and dry Tiaty constituency.

A spot check by The Standard in Chemolingot town revealed some businesses had been closed.