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Three people died while several others were injured following fresh attacks at Sondu market on the Kisumu-Kericho border.

The victims who reportedly sustained arrow wounds were rushed to Nyabondo Mission Hospital for medical attention.

It is reported that criminals armed with bows and arrows raided the East Kadiang’a location in the Upper Nyakach division on Wednesday morning and unleashed terror on the residents before fleeing the scene.

A house was reported to have been torched in the latest attack which comes barely two weeks after another attack was reported in the area that left one person dead and several injured.

The fresh attacks came on the day 20 MPs from the region told President William Ruto to intervene and stop the killings.

Addressing a news conference in Parliament yesterday, the MPs led by Leader of Minority in the National Assembly Opiyo Wandayi told the government to play its role and protect Kenyans in the Nyanza region whether they voted for the current administration or not.

Wandayi told the government to suspend any activities that they have planned to take part in that region and deal with the killings as they can snowball into a civil strife.

“We want the government to take this issue as a matter of priority and move with speed and stop the killings which are going on.” He added: “This government has a responsibility to protect its citizens whether or not they voted for them. These killings must stop because the victims may start feeling abandoned by the state and end up protecting themselves.”

Nyakach MP Aduma Owuor claimed that the situation in the area is getting out of hand and thus told Ruto to help end the killings. According to Owuor, apart from people being killed and others injured, seven schools have so far been closed down.

He added: “Unless this is stopped by the state as its basic role is to protect lives, I want to tell them as the leader of my people, I will take the lead in protecting my people.” He added: “I want to ask the Head of State to move with speed and end this massacre because what is happening is ethnic cleansing.”

Kisumu West MP Roza Buyu said this is not the first time the killings are happening and thus demanded that the state intervenes to end the massacre.

She said: “We are saying that these killings must stop and also we are saying that any other person organising, planning anything in this area must stop.”

Seme MP James Nyikal said it is sad that the government is sending its troops to Haiti yet it is unable to deal with attacks happening locally. “We cannot be sending troops to Haiti when we in Kenya cannot secure our own county.”

And speaking in Nyakach, Upper Nyakach Assistant County Commissioner Darwin Orina confirmed the incident, saying several people are admitted at the Nyabondo Hospital with suspected arrow and machete wounds. 18-year-old student Ray Otieno, is among the scores of victims nursing injuries at the hospital following the dawn attacks.

Recounting his last moment during the attack, Otieno said he narrowly survived death when the attackers confronted him early morning on his way to the nearby shop. He sustained arrow wounds on the back. “I was right from school then changed and went to buy some stuff for breakfast. The assailants struck my back with arrows leaving me in pain,” he said.

Tension remained high on the border market yesterday following the fresh attacks. Business was also disrupted as most traders kept away fearing for their lives. Security was beefed up with anti-riot police patrolling around Sondu market and its environs to stop further flare-ups.

 About two weeks ago, a 29-year-old man, who was a member of a music band that played at a pub in the market, was killed after a group of youths armed with crude weapons raided the entertainment joint.

 Yesterday local leaders led by Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o called for permanent intervention from the national government to resolve the border conflicts and ensure calm is restored. While condemning the spate of attacks, he said security authorities must move with speed to stop further skirmishes on the border.

 Kisumu County Security team led by County Commissioner Hussein Alason Hussein visited the border to quell the tensions that were building up in Sondu following the attack and assured the locals that security has been beefed up.

 Hussein, who later held a crisis meeting with security teams from both counties, assured that security has been beefed up with police patrols intensified on the border to calm the situation.