Caption: Shocked Ukasi residents look at the remains of a house that was torched down following attacks by suspected Somali herders who also beheaded two elderly men in Mwingi. (Photo: nation.co.ke)
Residents of Ukasi in Mwingi East are living in fear after suspected Somali bandits unleashed terror on a village killing two elderly men and torching several homesteads.
The gun-brandishing brigands reportedly ambushed several homesteads near the volatile Kitui-Tana River border during the Monday attack.
The first victim, aged 75 years, was sprayed with bullets in Ngooni Village in the surprise attack and later beheaded with an axe as his helpless family scampered for safety.
The assailants later burnt down several houses in the old man’s compound, according to Ukasi Location Chief Benjamin Mui.
The second victim was cornered near the Mwingi-Garissa highway as he attempted to escape the daylight raid and murdered in a similar fashion.
Mr Mui lamented that the senseless attacks have claimed the lives of 28 people since the start of last year but wondered why the State was reluctant to end the protracted killings once and for all.
He said a third man survived the latest attack with seriously gunshot wounds after he was shot in the legs and is recuperating at Mwingi Level Four Hospital.
Ukasi is among the worst affected parts of the county alongside Ikutha in Kitui South, Ngomeni (Mwingi North) and Sosoma (Mwingi East)
Area MP Joe Mutambu condemned the attack when he visited the area on Tuesday and urged the State to beef up security in the banditry-prone area.
He said the armed herders had encroached on Kitui in search of pasture for their camels and were, unprovoked, terrorising the locals in efforts to force them out of their land so as to graze the animals.
Persistent dry spell and diminishing pasture in their home county is suspected to have prompted the nomads to perennially invade Kitui thereby sparking the disputes.
“We don’t understand why the national government is reluctant to put an end to the pasture-related skirmishes when our people are getting shot dead every other day.
“It is the mandate of the State to protect its citizens. We demand that the government immediately drives the bandits out of our county to stop the needless killings so that the residents can live in peace,” said Mutambu.
However, Eastern Regional Commissioner Wycliffe Ogallo said the government will conduct an operation to mop up the illegal firearms and flush the armed camel herders out of Kitui County.