By Duncan Mwirigi
A few days after twelve people including two children lost their lives to a banditry attack in the Mlango area, Burat ward, and Loruko respectively, Isiolo leaders are now calling upon President William Ruto to extend the military operation to Isiolo County.
Led by Isiolo County Commissioner Geoffrey Omoding the leaders have asked President William Ruto to order a military operation in Isiolo to tame rising banditry attacks in the region.
Omoding statement comes a week after President William Ruto ordered a joint security exercise between the National Police Service and the Kenya Defence Forces as the government ramps up the fight against banditry in the troubled North Rift region. President William Ruto issued the order after three police officers were killed and eight others injured in an ambush in Kainuk, Turkana County.
Omoding expressed fears that bandits from Samburu and Laikipia counties where the State has announced a 30-day dusk-to-dawn curfew could sneak into Isiolo County and attack the residents.
“We have Samburu residents living in Isiolo and are welcoming the criminals from Samburu and Rendile communities, this is making the security exercise difficult for us”, said Omoding
In the recent past, cases of banditry have been on the rise. Three people including a National Police Reservist were Saturday killed at Mlango in Burat ward, Isiolo by bandits suspected to have come from neighboring Samburu County, days after two others were killed in the Loruko area.
The armed criminals ambushed the two herders and shot them dead before unleashing terror on the police reservist and walking away with his firearm and an unknown number of livestock.
Last year over seven people were killed by bandits along the Meru-Isiolo border in Meru County.Six more people were also gunned down within Murulem and harr Moroti areas in Isiolo County by bandits suspected to have come from Samburu at LMD Muslim cemetery. Four other people were injured when the bandits ambushed some of the residents at their homes and others while grazing and are hospitalized at Isiolo Referral Hospital.
