Kenyan security forces shot and killed 18 cattle raiders from neighbouring Uganda after the rustlers raided a village in northern Kenya, slaying one person, police said on Thursday.
Raiders from the Karamojong tribe of Uganda attacked cattle herders from the Turkana of Kenya on Wednesday in the village of Lokiriama, about 735km north of Nairobi, said police spokesperso Jaspher Ombati. A 12-year-old Turkana boy who was looking after some cattle was killed in the raid.
Security forces then engaged the raiders, killing 18 of them and forcing the surviving ones to flee back to Uganda. It was unclear how many Karamojong tribal warriors took part in the raid.
Cattle raiding has been a common practice for centuries among the nomadic tribes of northern Kenya and Uganda. But the raids have become increasingly lethal in recent decades as tribal warriors acquired modern weapons, which flooded the region following conflicts in Uganda, Sudan and Somalia. – Sapa-AP