- According to officials, as the KDF vehicle approached the Embossos Road Junction, it was obstructed by two armed civilians.
- This prompted a shootout leaving one of the gunmen with a wound in the lower waist while his colleague managed to escape into the jungle.
Image: CHETI PRAXIDES/FILE
Military personnel operating in parts of Baringo County shot and injured a gunman who engaged them in a shootout in the Marigat area.
The team was on a truck heading to Arabal Primary School as part of the government's efforts to renovate schools that had been vandalized by bandits in the North Rift region since June when they came under attack by two gunmen. T
The incident happened on Friday, police said.
According to officials, as the KDF vehicle approached the Embossos Road Junction, it was obstructed by two armed civilians.
This prompted a shootout leaving one of the gunmen with a wound in the lower waist while his colleague managed to escape into the jungle.
The injured suspect was arrested and taken to the hospital by the KDF rescue team
. At the scene of the incident, the personnel said they recovered an AK-47 rifle loaded with 21 rounds of ammunition.
The KDF and Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) Kasiela security teams combed the adjoining area in search of the other suspect at large in vain.
The incident comes amid insecurity in the North Rift region where the government has been intensifying its efforts to restore peace.
Dozens of firearms have been recovered in the operation. Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki was in parts of Baringo, Laikipia and Samburu this week as part of efforts to heighten the war on the gunmen.
He 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.