11 killed in northern Kenya bandit attack

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - Police confirmed that 11 people were killed late Saturday in northern Kenya in a cattle-rustling attack.

National Police Service (NPS) said officers were pursuing heavily armed bandits from the Pokot community who raided a village in the Eastern part of Turkana County and stole cattle.

“A local chief, two members of the public and eight police officers succumbed to the injuries,” police spokesman Bruno Shioso said in the statement. “We have dispatched additional officers to reinforce the troops on the ground in beefing up security in the area and pursue the bandits.”

There have been numerous cases of cattle rustling in northern Kenya as nomadic pastoralist communities lose thousands of livestock to a drought that, according to the government, has left millions on the brink of starvation.