A deadly bandit attack on Sunday night in LMD Village, Burat Ward, Isiolo County has left one person dead and six others, including an 11-year-old child, nursing gunshot wounds.
The assailants, reportedly from the volatile border regions of Kipsing, Oldonyiro, and Samburu County, launched the assault at around 10:00 p.m., killing 10 camels and making away with 17 others.
Among the injured is Mzee Osman Bidu, the Vice Chairperson of the Isiolo Somali Council of Elders, who sustained gunshot wounds while pursuing the raiders.
“They came heavily armed and opened fire indiscriminately,” he said from his hospital bed at Isiolo County Teaching and Referral Hospital, where all six victims are currently being treated.
According to witnesses, a group of villagers that pursued the bandits was ambushed in a premeditated second wave of gunfire, highlighting the tactical sophistication of the attackers and the growing insecurity that has plagued the region for years.
In the aftermath, anger and despair have engulfed the local Somali community, with leaders accusing the government of chronic neglect.
Community elder Osman Shariff Awkay and activist Anab Kassim said that despite heavy investment in security assets — from drones to armoured vehicles — there has been no meaningful protection for residents.
“This is not the first time. The people of Isiolo are not children of a lesser god,” Kassim said. “Why should Kenyans die every other week while the state turns a blind eye?”
They have now demanded urgent intervention from Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen and Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, saying that banditry should no longer be treated as a peripheral issue.
