NAIROBI, Kenya— A senior police officer is nursing serious injuries after being shot in a dramatic ambush by suspected bandits in Loiyangalani, Marsabit County—a region still grappling with waves of armed attacks despite ongoing security operations.
The Officer Commanding Station (OCS) for Loiyangalani Police Station was shot in the left thigh during a gunfight on Sunday as he led a multi-agency team responding to a distress call.
According to police reports, the officers were inside a patrol vehicle when they drove into a deadly ambush staged by approximately 30 heavily armed gunmen at Manyatta DC village.
The gunmen had reportedly been terrorizing villagers and targeting pedestrians when the police team was dispatched. It didn’t take long for bullets to fly.
The injured OCS was rushed to a local hospital before being airlifted to Nairobi for advanced medical care. Authorities say the ambush was one of several recent attacks in the area, which remains tense under the ongoing Operation Maliza Uhalifu—a government-led crackdown on cattle rustlers and armed militias across northern Kenya.
This wasn’t even the first violent incident in the region last week.
Just days before the OCS shooting, two herders were killed and two others critically injured in Marti village—also in Loiyangalani—when armed raiders launched another brutal assault. The attackers, believed to be after livestock, fled with an undisclosed number of goats before security forces engaged them in a fierce firefight and managed to recover the stolen animals.
The gunmen, however, vanished into the terrain and are now the subject of an ongoing manhunt. The injured victims were rushed to hospital, where police say they’re fighting for their lives. Meanwhile, the bodies of the two deceased herders were taken to a local mortuary pending post-mortem examinations.
The Marti raid has triggered fears of retaliatory violence within the community, underscoring the fragile security situation—even as the government intensifies its crackdown through Operation Maliza Uhalifu.
Operation Maliza Uhalifu, launched in 2024, now spans several hotspot counties: Marsabit, Samburu, Turkana, Baringo, West Pokot, Isiolo, and parts of Meru. While the operation has recorded notable wins, including a drop in armed raids and recovery of illegal weapons, recent attacks like those in Marti and Manyatta DC paint a sobering picture: the road to peace remains rugged.
