Four people have been killed in a suspected attack by armed camel herders in the Itimba-Ithei area of Tseikuru sub-county, Kitui County.

Kitui County Commissioner Erastus Mbui says the victims were watering their cattle at a stream about three kilometres from Kwa Kamari, where seven people were killed in a similar attack last month.

According to Mbui, the attackers ambushed the herders, fatally shooting the four before also shooting several cows. The assailants then fled into the nearby Mwingi North Game Reserve.

“The victims were watering their cattle at a stream about three kilometres from Kwa Kamari when they were ambushed by attackers who fatally shot the four herders and also opened fire on several cows, in an area not far from Kwa Kamari where seven people were killed in a similar attack last month,” he said.

Police have launched a manhunt for the attackers as security agencies intensify operations in the area.

The latest attack comes days after the National Police Service (NPS) called for calm and restraint following a series of deadly retaliatory attacks in Tseikuru Sub-county, Kitui County, that have left at least 12 people dead over the past month.

In a statement issued Sunday, April 26, 2026, the police said they were deeply perturbed by the killings, which they described as part of a worrying pattern of revenge attacks involving members of the Kamba and Somali communities.

According to the police, the violence began on March 29, 2026, when a 44-year-old Kamba herdsman was killed near Mwingi Game Reserve. The following day, a suspected retaliatory attack left four members of the Somali community dead.

“A chronology of criminal attacks below points to a pattern of retaliatory attacks involving two communities—the Kamba and the Somali—which must not only be condemned but also stopped immediately: On 29th March 2026, a 44-year-old Kamba herdsman was killed near Mwingi Game Reserve,” the police report read.

“The following day, 30th March 2026, a suspected retaliatory attack left four members of the Somali community dead.”

The police stated that the tensions escalated further on April 25, 2026, when seven people believed to be from the Kamba community were killed in an attack at the Kwa Kamari area in Tseikuru.

“Yesterday, 25th April 2026, an attack on the Kwa Kamari area left seven people dead, all believed to be from the Kamba community,” the police noted.

Kalonzo blames Ruto

In the earlier attacks, Wiper Patriotic Front party leader Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka blamed President William Ruto and his administration after a deadly attack in Tseikuru, Mwingi North, Kitui County, left seven people dead.

In a statement issued from Bamburi, Mombasa County, on Sunday, April 26, 2026, Kalonzo said the government had failed in its duty to protect citizens. He described the killings as a serious breakdown in governance and demanded immediate answers from the state.

According to Kalonzo, about 40 heavily armed attackers stormed Kwa Kamari Trading Centre in Tseikuru at around 2 pm on Saturday and opened fire on residents.

He said six men and one woman were killed during the raid, while another survivor remained in hospital with serious injuries.

“This is not merely a tragedy. It is a governance failure of the gravest order,” Kalonzo said.

He added that local accounts had described the violence as the worst banditry attack in the region in four decades.

Kalonzo questioned how armed men were able to move across county borders carrying rifles and arrive in vehicles without being stopped.

“To President Ruto: How do pastoralists come to possess automatic rifles capable of massacring seven Kenyans in minutes?” he asked.

“Who armed them? Who permitted them to move freely across county borders carrying weapons of war? The assailants reportedly arrived in two unmarked vehicles. This was not a spontaneous act. It was organised, co-ordinated, and executed with military precision against a civilian population. Where was your intelligence? Where was your security apparatus?”