A gang of suspected bandits has attacked a school and a General Service Unit camp in Baringo South Constituency.
According to confirmed reports, the unknown attackers surrounded the school and GSU camp at around 10 am on Tuesday, October 24.
Fear engulfed the school as the two sides continued to exchange fire with officers stationed at the adjacent camp. The gang, reports noted, engaged the police officers in a gun fight that lasted for close to two hours.
The number of casualties was not yet disclosed by the time of this publication. The attack came three weeks after another attack targeting the school’s vicinity.
Whilst the government has recently maintained that efforts to contain banditry attacks have succeeded, reports of unrest in the North Rift counties have continued to emerge.
In response to heightened cases of bandit attacks, the Ministry of Interior launched the Operation Maliza Uhalifu North Rift meant to silence guns in the affected counties.
The operation bringing together Police officers, the Kenya Defense Forces and locally recruited reservists was aimed at policing affected areas as well as building critical infrastructure.
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Resurgence of gang activities
However, multiple reports have indicated that permanent calm is yet to be restored.
In one of the latest cases of attacks, a gang of suspected gangs attacked police reservists who had been deployed in the ongoing road works aimed at opening up the previously remote areas.
The reservists were reportedly on their way to a construction site to release their colleagues when the bandits ambushed them.
Consequently, residents complained of recent resurgence of banditry activities coming back to disrupt what the peace they had experienced for months since the operation Maliza Uhalifu commenced.
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The resurgence reports have since exposed insecurity concerns in Kenya at a time the debate on Kenya’s planned deployment of police officers in Haiti was ongoing.
On several occasions, leaders and Kenyans opposed to the deployment urged the government to concentrate efforts on crime activities in Kenya.
The Orange Democratic Movement Party, for instance, warned the state against proceeding with plans and instead called for a reconsideration to reinforce security in Kenya.
