KDF deployed to Baringo after 7-hour siege on GSU camp by bandits

The situation in Kapindasum area of Baringo South Constituency continued to be tense on Wednesday even as Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) troops took a lead role in patrolling the area following Tuesday's ambush of a General Service Unit (GSU) camp by armed bandits who laid a siege for more than 7 hours.

Leaders in the area have lashed out at the Police Inspector General for suggesting that there was no such attack on a GSU camp.

This as Members of Parliament led by Gabriel Tongoyo, the Chairman of the National Assembly committee on national security, visited the area on a fact finding mission on Wednesday.

Baringo South MP Charles Kamuren said: “You cannot play with lives. You can’t give us a wrong signal that there is no fight, while the candidates are lying on the floor of the classes.”

The leaders asked the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to investigate the intentions of a section of leaders in the area said to have been flying in the prohibited zone, accusing them of supplying arms to the bandits.

Baringo Senator William Cheptumo; “Kuna ndege imeshuka mahali hapa on Thursday, three days later kuna uvamizi hapa, I want to demand from here today, we want to know hizi ndege za blue na white ni za nani?”

The Parliamentary security committee Chairperson Gabriel Tongoyo described the siege by bandits as a terror attack.

“The attack at that time was no banditry kwa sababu hakuna mifugo inapelekwa, ni watu kuja kuvamia shule na kambi yetu...tunataka kusema this must be investigated and repulsed,” he stated.

The leaders further questioned how an operation area with so many security assets and personnel could be subjected to hours of a siege by bandits in broad daylight, with not a single bandit neutralised or arrested.

A report on the Tuesday battle damage assessment is yet to be made public.