A police inspector was shot dead during a gun battle with cattle rustlers in Marti village of Samburu North Sub-County.
Two other officers were also hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds sustained during fire exchange after the police who swiftly responded to a distress call caught up with the heavily armed cattle rustlers.
The tragic incident occurred last Tuesday evening after unknown number of bandits ambushed unsuspecting villagers on Monday at Suiyan and reportedly drove away at least 50 herds of cattle towards Marti.
According to Samburu County Police Commander Karanja Muiruri, the deceased police inspector attached to Marti police station was leading a contingent of police officers to track down the rustlers when he met his death.
He said preliminary investigations into the incident pointed that the armed raiders had driven their loot into the adjacent Marti village where they were holding two children they reportedly abducted during the Monday raid.
“We followed the bandits after they struck on Monday evening and managed to rescue the girl and a boy aged 10 and 15 years respectively,” he asserted.
Muiruri added that after the children were rescued, the officers followed the bandits in a bid to recover the animals but headed straight into an ambush.
Samburu county referral hospital medical superintendent Silas Lodeke confirmed that two police officers were brought in on Tuesday night and were receiving treatment.
“One of them is nursing a gunshot wound on the arm while the other suffered shellshock due to the heavy artillery that was expended but he is now in stable condition,” Lodeke said.
The body was taken to the Samburu county referral hospital mortuary.
By Robert Githu
