Three killed in fresh inter-clan ambush

BY ADOW JUBAT

Tarbaj, Wajir:  Three people were killed in Wajir County on Tuesday afternoon by attackers from a rival clan over clan boundary dispute.

The three men from the member of Degodia clan, were killed by armed assailants suspected to be from the rival Garre community at Ogaralle village in Tarbaj district at around 10.30 am.

The victims were among labourers working on a road project involving clearing of bushes on a 25-kilometer stretch of road linking Wajir to Mandera County. The project is funded by the Wajir county government.

Tarbaj OCPD Soita Mwanja said the three men were shot at close range after they were ambushed by their armed attackers believed to be from the Garre clan who are opposed to the progress of the road project that links Mandera and Wajir counties.

He said the bodies of the deceased young men were taken from the scene of the incident, to Tarbaj police station by security personnel and later buried in accordance to Islamic practice, after postmortem was done on their lifeless body at Tarbaj hospital.

He said combined security forces were deployed in the area to pursue the criminals, whose action was bent on reigniting fresh bloody inter-clan fighting between the two communities who have been staying in peace since a peace pact was signed last year.

The member of the Garre community on Mandera side are accusing the Wajir county government of provocative moves by taking the road project into their ancestral land in another county.

Early last year, over 60 people were killed, 100 maimed and tens of thousands displaced from the comforts of their homes, after a fighting pitting the two communities, started in Mandera county and later spilled over to the neigbouring Wajir county and lasted for six months before amicably peace deal was signed.

Garre and Degodia clans who have over five decades of outstanding rivalry live together in both Wajir and Mandera counties. Garre are majority in Mandera, while Degodia are majority in Wajir.

Wajir County Commissioner Naftali Mungathia who addressed hundreds of enraged mourners during the burial of the three men, urged the affected clan to embrace forgiveness and avoid retaliatory approaches which may escalate into more bloodshed.

“This is an unfortunate incident. The Government uses all means possible to bring criminals to justice. But as we mourn our departed brothers, sons and relatives, we must defeat those bend on starting inter-communal violence by showing a lot of restrains” he appealed to mourns.