There was no siege in Turkana, says police boss David Kimaiyo

Inspector General of police David Kimaiyo.

By Collins Kweyu and Wilberforce Netya

Nairobi, Kenya: Police have said no station or civilian has been taken hostage by a militia group in Lorogon village, Turkana County, as reported.

Addressing the Press at Vigilance House on behalf of Inspector General David Kimaiyo Sunday, National Police Service spokesperson Gatiria Mboroki said there has been tension in Turkwell over boundary disputes between the Turkana and the Pokot communities, which led to insecurity.

“Since then, police officers have been conducting surveillance to arrest the situation and on Saturday, while heading to Turkwell Gorge, they met about 200 armed youths believed to be from the Pokot community who had barricaded the road,” said Mboroki.

She added that the officers requested reinforcements to contain the situation.

Police manning Lorogon at the disputed border of West Pokot and Turkana counties engaged in a fierce gun battle with a group of militia suspected to be from the Pokot community at the weekend.

The gang surrounded a GSU camp Sunday and started firing at the officers. However, no causalities were reported during the 6pm incident that lasted about three hours.