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Citizen Weekly

Sunday 14 December 2014

VIOLENCE REACHES NEW LEVELS IN BARINGO AS EX-SOLDIER, SON KILLED

Four chiefs from Baringo county have been summoned by the Baringo county commissioner Peter Okwanyo to shed light following the brutal murder of a former Kenya Defence Forces soldier and his son.
According to police report, Peter Kokoon and his son were shot dead on Sunday afternoon as they drove to his farm house in Mochongoi. The attackers later set the car ablaze with the bodies inside. However, the killers spared Kokoon’s daughter Valentine who took off and reported the grisly incident to the police.
Other sources say intelligence reports revealed that Kokoon, who at one time represented Kenya in Commonwealth Games, was ambushed at Arabal area by heavily armed bandits who attacked him before setting his vehicle on fire. It is suspected the bandits are targeting retired military and police officers.
It is further alleged that military officers and police officers from a certain community were being targeted on suspicion they mastermind cattle rustling in Baringo county. Local residents now demand that the government intelligence machinery should now trace the political inciters from both the communities and arrest them because they are the ones behind the attacks.
Already, tension is high in the area following the killings at Kasiela village and residents are said to be threatening to take the law into their own hands should the government fail to bring the killers to book.
Following the killings, residents are fleeing the area and more so, after rumours spread that the Pokot were planning a retaliatory attack for the killing of the ex-military officer.
Political and religious leaders led by Baringo North MP William Cheptumo have condemned the killings and urged the national government to step up security in Baringo North, Tiaty and Baringo South sub counties.
Baringo women’s representative Grace Kiptui also urged the national government to protect the lives and property of its citizens and step up security patrols in Baringo county and in particular,  Arabal area where worried residents have fled their homes for fear of more attacks.
The killing of the ex-military man and his son comes barely a week after a Pokot community elder at Kasiela area in Baringo county was killed.

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