Three people are nursing gunshot injuries at Marsabit County Referral Hospital following a fresh bandit attack.
Marsabit sub-county police commander Johnson Wachira said the driver and two travelers were shot while traveling from Marsabit town to Karare shopping center.
“Three occupants of a Toyota Probox were involved in a bandit attack just three kilometres from the heart of Marsabit town. They are out of danger,” Mr Wachira said.
The driver aged 24 sustained arm injuries while the travelers – a 45-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman – were shot in the stomach.
The incident took place next to the Don Bosco tertiary training college at around 1pm on Friday.
The unknown assailants used a getaway motorcycle whose number plate is yet to be established.
Mr Wachira asserted that security agents were on high alert to prevent the anarchy witnessed in the county between 2021 and 2022 before the State sanctioned a major security operation in May 2022.
This latest raid comes only a day after heavily armed bandits attacked unwary herders in Marsabit Forest, killing two of them and stealing an unknown number of livestock.
The bandits have intensified their attacks despite tough warnings from Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki.
Marsabit deputy county commissioner David Saruni told journalists a week ago that a rapid deployment unit had been garrisoned to man Marsabit Forest, which has, for a long time, been the bandits’ hideout.
Meanwhile, residents of Laisamis sub-county and human rights activists in Marsabit have raised concerns about bandits seeking refuge in the county after fleeing from Samburu County due to the ongoing security operations.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that several runway bandits from Samburu were spotted in several parts of Laisamis sub-county, eliciting fear that they were likely to reign terror in Marsabit county.
