Two experienced police officers are recovering from gunshot wounds they sustained while engaging armed robbers on the dangerous Kalemngorok-Lokichar road in Turkana County.
In the Friday gunfight, which was sparked by cries from the public, Chief Inspector Mustafa Nyapara, the Officer Commanding Station, Lokichar, and Inspector Abdirahman Abdi, the Officer In Charge Kalemongrok Police Post, were shot in the head and leg, respectively.
After receiving reports that there were roughly six armed guys stopping cars along the route at gunpoint and demanding money, food, electronics, and other valuables, a team of police officers went to the site.
The squad intervened and stopped a robbery in progress, which led to a shooting and the injury of Abdi as the shooters withdrew.
They had stolen the passengers' driving permits, cash, and mobile phones from the car's crew. A different team's response was greeted with resistance, which gave Nyapara a minor head injury.
Later, Nyapara was treated and released while Abdi was transported to a private hospital in Eldoret. Police said that no arrests or recoveries had been made as the group had fled.
Highway robbers are known to attack and loot drivers along this stretch of road. The majority of the armed individuals have been driven out of the neighbouring West Pokot region, where security personnel are engaged in an operation.
More than 30 different guns have been found so far in an operation to remove weapons linked to persistent insecurity, which is being supported by dozens of security agents in the area.
To ensure everyone in the area is safe, police said they hope to recover more of the firearms from unauthorized hands. The operation, according to police spokesman Bruno Shioso, is ongoing.
He said, "We continue to urge people in possession of illegal firearms to benefit from the government's immunity and turn in their weapons to our security agencies and the National Government Administration Officers."
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