Two Turkana county employees escaped death by a whisker on Sunday after bandits ambushed a vehicle they were travelling in and sprayed it with bullets at the dreaded KWS-Kaakong’ stretch on the Kitale-Lodwar road.
Mr Peter Lochama and Ms Getrude Kosgei were heading to Lodwar town from Eldoret when the armed bandits emerged from the thicket and fired at them.
It happened as residents and leaders in both Turkana and Baringo counties reported witnessing a military bombardment of areas believed to be the bandits’ hideouts.
Residents of both counties reported spotting two military combat choppers hovering over the hotspots on Friday and Saturday. The situation has caused tension in the areas.
“We ducked beneath the dashboard as I attempted to steer the vehicle. The vehicle veered off the road and we landed in the bush. I attempted to steer it further away from the bandits as they continued firing at us. Luckily none of us was hurt,” recalled Mr Locham, who was driving.
The vehicle caught stuck, forcing them to take get out and flee to safety.
“We headed back and found our way to the highway. The bandits had stopped firing at us. We stopped a PSV vehicle that was headed to the scene and we asked them to drive back to Kainuk, and they allowed us into the vehicle,” he narrated.
Following the incident, motorists and passengers on the Lodwar-Kitale road are now being escorted by Kenya Defence Forces soldiers and police officers.
Retaliatory attacks
The attack happened a day after bandits carried out retaliatory attacks at Kalemng’orok in Turkana South Sub-County, hours after residents reported the military bombing of the criminals’ hideouts.
On Sunday night, Kaakong Primary School in Turkana South was closed after bandits invaded it and vandalised buildings and equipment, including the water tank. Learners and teachers have kept away.
And on Monday, suspected armed bandits ambushed motorists at Naoyaregae bridge in Kaputi on the Kitale- Lodwar highway, with some motorists getting stranded in nearby villages where they sought refuge.
Kaakong primary school headteacher Edaan’ Simon told Nation.Africa that the tension that began building up on Friday remained high.
Turkana County Commissioner Jacob Ouma confirmed the presence of two military helicopters and said they were part of a targeted security operation to flush out bandits in the area.
“The choppers came there to deal with bandits after they were keenly monitored in normal surveillance activities,” Mr Ouma said.
In Baringo county, bandits carried out a daytime retaliatory attack in the volatile Seretion village in Mochongoi ward, Baringo South on Sunday, injuring a police reservist and making away with more than 200 head of cattle.
The attack was carried out after the joint military-police teams deployed to carry out disarmament in the area bombed the dreaded Korkoron and Tandar Hills on Friday morning in a bid to smoke out the bandits. The hills are among the bandits’ hideouts in the region.
