At least two people including a police officer were Friday shot and killed in a clash over a gold mining site in Hilo, Moyale, Marsabit County.
The attackers stole a G3 rifle loaded with 20 bullets from the slain officer.
The site is among those closed over safety issues but illegal miners keep invading there for a living.
Police said several people including police officers and the invaders were injured in the Friday, July 19 tragedy.
The deceased were identified as constable
George Mukoma of Boarder Patrol Unit and was attached to Hilo to help fight the gangs.
The other is a civilian identified as Hassan Harrow Odono. They were both shot in the clash.
Police from the Hillo operation camp said at around 1 am on Friday a large group of people of about 3000 forcefully entered Hilo Walikiti gold mining site and started pelting stones at the security officers who were guarding the site.
The police officers managed to repulse the attackers.
Two hours later the group again came back armed with assorted crude weapons and attacked the police officers and invaded the gold mining site but police officers regrouped and managed to repulse them.
For the third time, according to police, the group came back at about 8 am now armed with guns and crude weapons, and started shooting and pelting stones at police officers.
This prompted police to fire back killing one of the attackers.
Police said the group attacked from all directions overrunning the station.
It was then that Mukoma was killed and had his gun stolen.
One of the officers was seriously injured and rushed to the hospital.
The bodies were moved to the mortuary as police said they had launched investigations into the attack.
A major operation was planned in the area for the stolen weapon and the attackers.
The site has been a scene of drama between state agencies and miners who want to venture there for gold deposits.
It was closed for safety reasons.
The Hilo Gold mine, situated near the Kenya-Ethiopia border in Dabel, has been a focal point for gold mining activities, attracting numerous youths seeking to earn a living through gold scavenging.
However, due to safety and security concerns, the government ordered the closure of the mine on March 14, 2024.
Despite the closure, it appears that some miners continued their operations illegally, leading to this unfortunate incident.
The Hillo mining field is the same one closed by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki in March this year after deadly clashes between communities over mining rights.
The clashes left at least seven people dead.
Kindiki visited the area in March and ordered the closure of gold mining sites in Marsabit.
Kindiki flew to Dabel Artisinal Mining Sites within Golbo Division of Marsabit County and announced measures to arrest the escalation of violence and other criminal activities in the area.
The area had been rife with armed criminals facilitating trade in narcotic drugs, while seven people including two aliens were killed this week in gang rivalries among the illegal artisan miners on site.
Cases of rape, defilement and Gender-Based Violence have been booked, Kindiki said.
Kindiki said a special team from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has taken over investigations to identify and apprehend the offenders.
Most of the gold mines have been found to be unsafe. They have caused dozens of deaths.
The directive by Kindiki which also banned unlicenced commercial mining, came just a week after two people died following another collapse.
“To ensure regularised artisanal mining that meets public safety and environmental standards, the Government has banned all artisanal mining activities as well as unlicenced commercial mining,” he said.
The area is among those with gold deposits and hence attracts residents who venture there to make a living.
Similar incidents have also been reported in other parts of the country including in Lirhembe village, Ikolomani in Kakamega county and another in Manyatta village, Vihiga county.
Miners have put their lives at risk in search of gold, especially in Pokot.
In Pokot, the most affected areas are around River Sukut between Tangasia and Kapsangar locations where young boys drop out of school and resort to mining.
Some of these accidents have been attributed to the unsafe use of heavy machines to crush stones in the artisanal activities, overlooking the environmental impact.
The machineries make the sites weak and unsafe for the miners, according to officials.
To deal with some of these challenges, the government has also directed that those involved in mining activities to stop operations for the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) to conduct an environmental impact assessment to give the ecological guidelines before mining operations can resume.
Nema officials were directed to carry out the environmental impact assessment and give reports at the sites as part of efforts to address the safety measures.
The gold miners are also ordered to seek licenses from all the relevant government authorities before embarking on the work.
They have been told to stop using heavy machinery at the sites.
These machineries make the sites weak and unsafe for the miners.
The majority of the gold mining activities are done by small and medium enterprise miners who have been exposed to unsafe practices in the mining extraction processes.
Those engaged in extracting the precious mineral have always defied government bans on mining, especially during rainy seasons arguing that it is the only activity in the region that enables them to put food on the table.