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MANDERA, KENYA: Five pastoralists from Kenya were killed at the country’s border with Ethiopia by unknown gunmen on Tuesday.
The deceased who are all from one family were killed by heavily armed unidentified gunmen who descended on their makeshift settlement and opened fire indiscriminately on the sleeping family.
Confirming the incident, Kiliwaheri ward Member of County Assembly (MCA) Barre Mohamed Shabure said family who left Elmole village in Banisa sub-county few days ago in pursuit of pasture and water for their animals were killed at Wari walo village some 10 kilometers from Kenya border.
He said “Those killed were 3 children (2boys and a girl), their father and a close relative. The attackers targeted the family who just settled in the area for the purposes”,
“The family, as it is the common practice among the pastoralists’ families left their village at the Kenya border in search of pasture for their livestock and they were expected to go back on the onset of the shorts rains which are two months away”, He added.
Shabure said seven others including the mother of the slain children were also injured in the attack adding that 3 of those who sustained gun wounds were in critical condition and they were rushed to Mandera county referral hospital for specialised treatment.
He said, the slain people were the family of the son of Elmole assistance chief Adan Moulu. Elmole is small village less than 8 kilometers from Ethiopia border.
He said although the assailants and their motive couldn’t be immediately established, their footprints, which ware traced by the villagers, have indicated that they come from the Kenyan side.
“It is suspected that criminals might have crossed the border from the Kenya side since their footprints has pointed toward villages in Kenya side of the border”, Said the MCA.
Banisa ward MCA Yakub Hassan who condemned the incident urge the affected Garre clan to be calm as the government investigate and establish those behind the killing of the family.
Tension has soared in Mandera, a county which is emerging from a recent bloody inter clan skirmishes pitting two Somali clans, the Garre and the Degodia.