At least 21 people, many of them children, were killed on Tuesday when armed raiders attacked a rival clan’s village in a long-running dispute over water and pasture in eastern Kenya, residents said.
Members of the Borana clan invaded the remote village of Turbi, about 580km north-east of Nairobi, early on Tuesday and shot to death their victims, all of whom are believed to belong to the rival Gabra clan, they said.
Police in the region were at the scene of the attack but could not immediately be reached for comment. Residents of Marsabit, the nearest town about 150km south of Turbu, said between 21 and 23 people had died.
”We know that 21 people have been killed; most of them appear to be children,” said Father Alex Serreira of the Catholic mission in Marsabit.
Others, including a local businessman who has radio contact with Turbi, said at least 23 people, the majority of them children, had been killed, but this death toll could not be confirmed by independent sources.
”The attack happened very early in the morning,” said Kuni Haranka, a trader in Marsabit. ”The reports we are receiving through radio indicate they were attacked while in their houses.
”Some families died in their houses,” he said by telephone from the town.
The two clans have feuded persistently over water and pasture in the semi-arid region. Alexander Abduba, a Gabra clan elder, said the attack was part of a plan by the Borana to take control of Turbi, an oasis in the parched region.
”The Borana want to force the Gabra out,” he said. ”Turbi is a watering point, a pasture land for animals in the desert. They want to want to take over watering points and pasture lands.
”They want to extend the Borana area of control into Gabra land,” Abduba said. ”It is basically an expansion programme.”
Members of the Borana clan could not be reached for comment. — Sapa-AFP