11 people killed in retaliatory attack at Makutani, Baringo

Residents surround a Red Cross vehicle that had brought three injured people from Makutani to Marigat District Hospital after the early morning attack.

Eleven people have been killed in Makutani, in Baringo South, Baringo County following attacks by suspected Pokot members retaliating the killing of two women on Wednesday.

In the attacks seen as retaliatory, four children and seven women were killed and four others injured. Among the injured according to Red Cross Secretary General Abbas Gullet include three children and one adult.

According to residents, the conflict was triggered by the killing of two women from Tiaty by suspected Ilchamus morans who ambushed a Rapid Deployment Unit vehicle.

Gullet in a statement said Red Cross personnel responded to help the victims of the attacks and ferried the injured to Mukutani primary school where they were stabilized before being referred to hospitals in Nakuru.

“We responded with our team of paramedics and managed to stabilise the four casualties on the site all who had taken cover in one of the dormitories at Mukutani primary and boarding,” he said.

“The baby had minor cuts on the cheeks was treated and discharged. One child had severe injury on the head and another in the stomach having been hit by two bullets. The other child was shot in the bottom while the adult male was shot in the stomach.”

One of the children injured being attended to at Marigat District Hospital.

The standard has established that the five year old girl who was referred to St. Mary’s in Nakuru was later taken to Rift Valley Provincial Hospital after the hospital refused to admit her for surgery for lack of Sh20,000 the family were required to deposit.

“We did not admit because the family could not raise Sh20,000 needed for admission so she has been taken to PGH,” a nurse told the Standard team in the facility.

Early this month, Red Cross suspended its operations in the region fearing for safety of its personnel after residents of Marigat blocked three trucks ferrying humanitarian food to victims of hunger in Tiaty. It resumed operations after being assured of safety by the government.