One more person shot dead in Kerio Valley

One more person has been killed in Kerio Valley as suspected bandits continue unleashing terror.

A former National Police Reservist (NPR), Abraham Kitum, was shot dead on Thursday afternoon in Chebasiak, Kaben location in Elgeyo Marakwet.

Kitum’s killing brings the death toll in the latest bloodletting in Kerio Valley to five since Monday, after four people, including two primary school boys and their uncle,  were killed in two separate attacks in Endo area. 

Residents claimed that Kitum’s killers came from a neighboring county and asked the police to reign in bandits wreaking havoc in the volatile Kerio Valley. 

According to his family, the slain Kitum, who had retired as a police reservist in 2016, was ambushed and shot dead by bandits as he herded his cattle and goats at the pasture-rich Chebasiak.

His nephew Bismarck Ruto said his paternal uncle was shot twice in the chest and died on the spot.

Ruto said the fallen retired NPR had just found a pasture-rich spot within the area, but he was unaware that armed bandits were hiding nearby.

“They took his four cattle, two bulls, and a similar number of cows after shooting him dead. The bandits were hiding in a nearby thicket and ambushed him,” Ruto said. 

The nephew said Kitum had served the troubled well as a police reservist and became a peace ambassador after his retirement. 

“He was a champion of peace and a respected community elder during his retirement. That he was killed while herding livestock is painful,” he said.

Four goats stolen in Cheptulel in the neighboring West Pokot had been traced to Endo in Elgeyo Marakwet and were returned to their owners in West Pokot just hours before the retired reservist was fatally shot. 

A heavy contingent of a multi-agency security team comprising the military, Anti-stock Unit (ASTU), and regular police officers questioned chiefs from different neighboring counties in the Kerio Valley as they tracked suspected bandits who have defied directives to surrender their guns and continued to kill and maim in recent months. 

Efforts to reach security officials were futile yesterday, with sources saying they were part of an operation to track down bandits who had retreated to their hiding places in the vast Kerio Valley.

During the Monday attack, herders from Marakwet East and Tiaty clashed at Kewa Kowow, resulting in a fierce gunfight that left one person dead.