Bandits kill three, steal goats

By Ali Abdi and Boniface Gikandi

Bandits have killed three people in Isiolo as hundreds of panic-stricken families fled villages in fear of revenge attacks.

Thugs are believed to have killed the three on Friday afternoon but their bodies were discovered on Saturday morning.

The bandits slit the throats of the victims at a village near Kambi Garba estate, about 10km from Isiolo town and stole 64 goats.

More than 100 goats were also stolen at a village near the Kenya Army School of Artillery.

An official from Isiolo District Peace Committee Elizabeth Ibrahim, whose animals were stolen in the Kambi Garba incident, identified the victims as Elizabeth Nayeng, 43, Puna Lokiang, 47, and Paul Lorianyang, 60.

Acting Isiolo OCPD Cheruto Githinji confirmed the incident, saying a manhunt for the killers was underway. She said some animals stolen near the Kenya Army School of Artillery had been recovered.

But Mrs Ibrahim termed the search for the animals as an exercise in futility. She said the bandits had reached their destination given that the attack took place over 20 hours before police intervention.

"The victims were last seen alive on Friday at around noon. It is an exercise in futility to chase the killers while they are already home with the stolen animals,’’ she said.

Following the killings, hundreds of villagers from Kambi Garba, Eremet, Gambella and adjacent areas fled to safer areas within the town out of fear that there would be revenge attacks.

inter-clan conflict

on Sunday, the widow of the former Moyale MP Dr Guracha Galgalo, Rahma Galgalo led officials of Move to Empower Pastoralist Women (MEP-Kenya) to the families of those killed in inter-clan conflict, including Friday’s victims.

At Bulla Gudud in the outskirts of Isiolo town where hundreds had been displaced, MEP-Kenya donated food to the victims.

Mrs Galgalo said women and children had suffered in areas occupied by the pastoralists due to inter-clan conflict yet it was men who incite them against each other.