Mandera County attacks death toll reaches 25

By Adow Jubat

MANDERA, KENYA: The death toll in the Banisa Constituency attacks in Mandera County has reached 25 over the past one month following renewed skirmishes pitting two Somali communities of Garreh and Degodia.  This follows the killing of five more people in two separate incidents in Elmole and Hullow villages on Saturday morning.

 In the first incident three people were shot dead and another one injured after suspected militia men from a rival community descended on their village and indiscriminately opened fire on the sleeping villagers in Gesireb, a remote village two kilometres from Ethiopia border.

Confirming the incident, Banisa OCPD Christopher Rotich said the attackers who are believed to be Degodia militiamen ambushed the Garreh villagers who were on transit grazing settlement, as they were heading toward Elmole village 25 kilometres from Banisa.

“These were pastoralist families who were fleeing from the recurrent attacks in Banisa area and they were on a night stop over in the area when they were attacked by the bandits believed to be numbering six,” the police boss said on phone. Mr Rotich said the attackers were believed to have crossed from the Ethiopian border, which is less than two kilometres from the village.

“We have dispatched security personnel’s from Banisa town to pursue the attackers and we are hopeful to catch up with them before they sneak back into Ethiopia,” he added. Meanwhile, Secondary school heads from Bungoma County have expressed fear that the recent wave of violence in the region may affect performance in this year’s national examinations. They said the wave of violence derailed learning programmes in some institutions as teachers and students feared for their lives.

The heads noted that the scrapping of evening tuition in most day schools will have dire consequences in the students’ performance since it cuts down on their revision time.

The principals spoke during the official closing ceremony of the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association conference for Bungoma chapter held in Eldoret town.

Keya Sabwani, the branch chairman said there is need for relevant authorities to take action as soon as possible to avert any further tension in the region. “As I speak, students attending day schools stopped their evening preps due to the attacks by suspected criminals. This could disadvantage them and contribute negatively to their final results,” said Mr Sabwani.