- During the operation the bandits escaped towards Sieku valley in the expansive Mukogodo forest.
- The attack occurred a day after another group of suspected bandits shot and wounded rancher Lucy Jennings.
Gunmen shot dead a police reservist in Graton village, Laikipia North subcounty, on Monday and left five others nursing serious bullet wounds.
Laikipia County Commissioner Joseph Kanyiri said the security officers were ambushed as pursued the bandits after they raided the homestead of resident Andrew Murugu and made away with nine cows that were later recovered.
The injured, who were shot in the legs, are admitted at the Nanyuki Cottage Hospital and are out of danger.
“There was an encounter between our security officers and the bandits, and in the process exchange of fire ensued, killing one NPR. Five are in stable condition and undergoing treatment,” Kanyiri said.
“We will not relent in enforcing the law in this county.”
The administrator said during the operation the bandits escaped towards Sieku valley in the expansive Mukogodo forest with the help of some residents who acted as guides.
“The bandits can’t be working alone. They could be working in collaboration with some residents of Chumvi, Kimugandura and other areas. Mukogodo forest terrain is tortuous and unforgiving,” he said.
Kanyiri urged local leaders to partner with the security agencies to curb banditry in the Laikipia.
The attack occurred a day after another group of suspected bandits shot and wounded rancher Lucy Jennings. The officer said security personnel were pursuing the assailants.
The rancher was on her way to church when she was shot in the head and arm. Jennings is admitted at Pope Benedict Hospital in Nyahururu.
Six suspects are in police custody in connection with the shooting as the probe goes on.
Ranch owners in the area have decried a new wave of attacks by gunmen, who usually steal their animals despite sustained operations by multi-agency security teams.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has been leading operations in the area, vowing to end the attacks.
Kindiki said cattle rustling in Northern Kenya has over the years become an organised criminal enterprise responsible for deaths, poverty and displacement.
“Its impacts are severe. It deprives pastoral communities of their economic mainstay and aggravates the conditions of poverty in the rangelands, fuelling communal grievances and revenge attacks,” the CS said.
To dismantle the infrastructure of cattle rustlers and facilitators, Kindiki said, the government is sustaining the war on banditry and its perpetrators, enablers, benefactors and beneficiaries by making banditry a painful venture, ensuring recovery of stolen livestock and rewarding facilitators of recoveries.