Four Shot Dead In Northern Kenya Cattle Raid
Four people were shot dead in a raid to steal cattle in northern Kenya, police said Tuesday, despite a major security operation after 42 pol...
http://www.africaeagle.com/2012/12/four-shot-dead-in-northern-kenya-cattle.html
Four people were shot dead in a raid to steal cattle in northern Kenya, police said Tuesday, despite a major security operation after 42 policemen were killed in an ambush by alleged rustlers in the same area last month.
"Four people were killed and 12 others were injured in the raid, all of them sustained gunshot wounds," a senior police officer in Baragoi, a remote rural locality in the arid north, said after Monday's attacks.
"The raid was done by Turkana herdsmen who stole cattle, we believe some of them must have escaped with injuries," the officer said, adding that they also made off with 200 goats but that some had been recovered.
Police and the military have mounted a security operation in the Baragoi area after 42 police officers were killed in an ambush as they were hunting cattle rustlers, the deadliest such attack against the country's police force.
Cattle theft and ensuing clashes between rival pastoralist groups claim dozens of lives every year in northern Kenya.
The violence is not believed to be linked to politics, but it raises concerns over security in volatile areas of the country ahead of the March elections, the first being held since the December 2007 vote that triggered a wave of deadly unrest.
The ethnic violence in the aftermath of the disputed vote left 1,100 people dead and shattered Kenya's image as a beacon of regional stability.
Kenyan police have come under fierce criticism for failing to stop inter-communal killings.
Earlier this month, 45 people including women and children were hacked to death in an attack on a remote village in the southeastern Tana River Delta coastal region. Another 100 lives were lost in similar violence in the area in August and September.
"The raid was done by Turkana herdsmen who stole cattle, we believe some of them must have escaped with injuries," the officer said, adding that they also made off with 200 goats but that some had been recovered.
Police and the military have mounted a security operation in the Baragoi area after 42 police officers were killed in an ambush as they were hunting cattle rustlers, the deadliest such attack against the country's police force.
Cattle theft and ensuing clashes between rival pastoralist groups claim dozens of lives every year in northern Kenya.
The violence is not believed to be linked to politics, but it raises concerns over security in volatile areas of the country ahead of the March elections, the first being held since the December 2007 vote that triggered a wave of deadly unrest.
The ethnic violence in the aftermath of the disputed vote left 1,100 people dead and shattered Kenya's image as a beacon of regional stability.
Kenyan police have come under fierce criticism for failing to stop inter-communal killings.
Earlier this month, 45 people including women and children were hacked to death in an attack on a remote village in the southeastern Tana River Delta coastal region. Another 100 lives were lost in similar violence in the area in August and September.
