Gunmen raided the home of a herder and shot him dead after stealing his cows in Maralal, Samburu.
Security officials say Samburu is increasingly emerging as one of the worst-hit cattle rustling and banditry areas of late.
On Tuesday, February 13, gunmen raided Nomotio village of Maralal and killed Andrew Lenyakumul after stealing his three cows and four sheep, police said.
Police said the gang first attacked him with a blunt object on the back before shooting him twice at close range as they drove away with his animals.
His body was moved to a local mortuary.
Police say they have sent reinforcements to the area to address the menace.
Gunmen have been wrecking havoc in parts of the North Rift leaving a trail of deaths and destruction amid fears the gangs are now emboldened and ready for more attacks.
Police statistics show up to 20 people have been killed in the past two months in the area in separate attacks linked to cattle rustling.
This has forced authorities to re-strategise as residents protest repeated attacks that have disrupted life at large.
Two weeks ago, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki held a strategy event with senior security managers at Shaba, Isiolo, to lay the framework for the pacification of disturbed areas in Marsabit, Isiolo, Meru North, Baringo, Samburu and Turkana.
He said incessant security threats posed by livestock rustlers, highway robbers, and traffickers of humans and narcotics require a comprehensive multi-agency eradication strategy.
“The criminals have taken advantage of rough terrain, poor infrastructure and social vulnerabilities to stage attacks against residents of some parts of Northern Rift Valley and Upper Eastern Regions, a culture that the government is determined to suppress this year,” he said then.
Kindiki said politics, ethnicity, culture, religion or other affiliations must be separated from the fight against the criminal atrocities perpetrated against the people of Kenya through the terror of bandits.
“The government is determined to permanently destroy the intricate infrastructure of banditry by going for its benefactors, beneficiaries, accessories, planners, and executors,” he said.
He said political and other leaders must refrain from politicizing security matters or trying to meddle with security operations to allow the organs and agencies to wage a decisive, ruthless, and conclusive war against the impunity and terror of banditry.
He said multi-agency security officers deployed in the six North Rift Valley counties will remain on the ground for the long haul until the banditry menace is eradicated.
