One person was shot and killed in an ambush by bandits in Doldol, Laikipia County.
The incident happened on Friday March 15 evening.
An unknown number of police officers including Tigania East sub county commander Emmanuel Kiplagat were injured in the clash with bandits.
Kiplagat was leading an operation to retrieve livestock stolen from Matabithi, Meru County, three weeks ago when the bandits struck killing the man and injuring several officers in the process.
The deceased is said to be the owner of the stolen animals.
Kiplagat sustained a gunshot wound in the shoulder during the confrontation and is currently recuperating at a local hospital, police said.
He and injured officers were later airlifted to Nairobi for medical attention, police said.
Police said the operation began at Tassia Hills and after recovering 300 cows and pushed them for around three hours the team was attacked on the way and the bandits managed to get back with the cattle.
Police said an operation to recover the animals is ongoing in the area.
The area is among those affected by banditry amid ongoing operations.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has been leading the operations in the area vowing to end the menace.
Kindiki said cattle rustling in Northern Kenya has over the years become an organised criminal enterprise responsible for deaths, poverty and displacement.
“Its impacts are severe. It deprives pastoral communities of their economic mainstay and aggravates the conditions of poverty in the rangelands, fuelling communal grievances and revenge attacks,” he said.
To dismantle the infrastructure of cattle rustlers and facilitators he said, the government is sustaining the war on banditry and its perpetrators, enablers, benefactors and beneficiaries by making banditry a painful venture, ensuring recovery of stolen livestock and rewarding facilitators of recoveries.
