Three killed in Mandera’s inter-clan attack

MANDERA, KENYA: Three people were killed on Thursday evening in Mandera County, after a suspect clan militia from a rival community raided a remote village in Banisa constituency.

Some unconfirmed reports put the number of dead at about 10, with 3 casualties, however a government official puts number of the dead at three with no casualties.

Confirming the incident, Mandera county commissioner Alex Ole Nkoyo said, raiders suspected to be gun men from one of the clans engaged in a protracted inter-clan fighting in the recent days discretely stormed Chiriko, a tail-end village in Banisa sub-county along the Kenya-Ethiopia border and killed three villagers.

The county commissioner said the attackers who were about 7 according to eyewitness descended on the village at around 5pm (on Thursday), before they began shooting people randomly and burning Somali traditional grass thatched houses popularly known as Hirios.

“I can confirm three men were killed and four houses burnt down into ashes on Thursday evening by gun men whom we suspect to be from a rival clan at Chiriko village” he said while speaking on phone from Mandera town.

He added” The assailants posed as herders on grazing expedition, to the villagers where they later sneaked into one of the huts and shot a man without provocation. The two other men were also shot on rushing to rescue their neighbour”.

Nkoyo said, the gun shot also attracted security personnel who are camping in the area and at the time were doing a routine foot patrol.