A section of Isiolo Town residents staged a protest in the town Sunday demanding enhanced security following an increasing rate of banditry attacks.
This follows the weekend killing of three people including a National Police Reservist at Mlango in Burat ward by bandits.
Authorities suspect the attackers crossed from neighboring Samburu County and were after camels in the area.
This came days after two others were killed in the Loruko area in a similar clash.
On Sunday, the protesters blocked the main Isiolo-Marsabit highway demanding immediate action from authorities to address the menace.
They said they have been left exposed to repeated attacks by gunmen who raid at will and kill before escaping with livestock.
It took the intervention of security officials to clear the boulders the protesters had erected on the road to return to normalcy there.
Isiolo County Commissioner Geoffrey Omoding said they have taken measures to address the menace.
“We have more personnel here to work with others in addressing this issue. Let them be assured,” he said.
In the Saturday attack, the attackers are said to have escaped with up to 200 heads of cattle including a camel.
The armed gang ambushed the two herders and shot them dead before turning the terror on the police reservist who tried to fight them.
Police said the attackers stole the deceased’s s firearm and an unknown number of livestock from the area.
This has sparked tensions and fears of retaliation from the affected people.
The attack brings to 10, the total deaths reported in the area in the last two weeks, officials said.
Last week, on February 14 at the Ndonyo Kinyua area, one Longor Murukapel reported that while NPR officers were on patrol, they encountered a group of cattle rustlers who were driving away stolen camels and a shootout ensued where they overpowered the bandits who escaped to an unknown destination.
About 100 camels were recovered with no injury being reported.
Local leaders and residents have blamed the government for doing little to end the senseless killings in the area.
They want the area to be included among those under curfew and an operation to get rid of illegal arms.
The locals lamented that the troubled area was slowly turning into a battlefield robbing women of their husbands and children of their parents.
