A police officer was Thursday evening shot dead and another critically injured following an encounter with heavily armed cattle rustlers in the Milgis area on the Marsabit -Isiolo highway.
The officers were escorting a lorry that was transporting cattle to Nairobi when they encountered an unknown number of bandits said to have been armed with assault rifles.
Marsabit County Commissioner Nobert Komora said the rustlers did away with 25 heads of cattle that were aboard the truck.
Mr. Komora said the attackers waylaid the truck and rained bullets at the lorry cabin killing one of the police escorts on the spot and inflicting serious injuries on his colleague.
The County Commissioner who is also the chairman of the county security and intelligence committee confirmed that the rustlers also stole the government firearms that were with the policemen.
The injured officer was rushed to Laisamis sub-county hospital with multiple gun injuries including the head.
The truck driver also sustained gunshot wounds and was taken to the same hospital for treatment.
The county commissioner said that security personnel were dispatched to the area to hunt down the attackers with a view to recovering the guns and livestock stolen besides bringing the culprits to book.
He asked the local community to assist in the operation by volunteering useful information concerning the incident.
The incident takes place at a time when the government has heightened the fight against the menace in regions that were hitherto prone to banditry in the country and the rustlers could have been testing the waters.
The body of the slain officer was removed to Marsabit County referral hospital mortuary.
