There was joy when a 13-year-old girl abducted by bandits was rescued in Baringo County on June 8, 2025.

The Kenya Red Cross Society said the Grade Seven pupil who was abducted in Yatia village, Baringo North, was in Silale downhills, over 100km from her home.

“After two days of intense search, security teams and local community members rescued her in the Silale downhills, Tiaty Central,” KRCS said.

The KRCS said it had been working closely with authorities and community leaders throughout the response, and is now providing psychosocial support and facilitating medical referral services for the girl and her family.

During the Friday incident, the pupil at Yatya Primary School in Baringo North Sub-County was preparing an afternoon meal with her two younger siblings when two armed men accosted them and demanded that they go with them.

Baringo County Police Commander Julius Kiragu said police had stepped up efforts to rescue the abducted girl.

“Our officers are in hot pursuit of the armed criminals in a bid to apprehend them and rescue the girl. We are yet to establish the motive of the abduction,” Kiragu said then.

The girl is said to have been in the company of a Grade Five boy and a three-year-old child during the incident.

According to residents, the armed bandits ordered the children to go with them, but the toddler cried, prompting them to leave him behind.

“On the way, the Grade Five boy escaped and returned to the village where he narrated what had transpired,” said Richard Chepchomei, a resident.

Sources told People Daily on June 8, 2025, the bandits had been spotted with the girl in Riong’o, in the neighbouring Tiaty Sub-County, more than 50km away.

Saimo Soi Ward MCA Michael Cherombor had urged security personnel to work tirelessly to rescue the girl, noting that the incident had sparked tension in the area.

The MCA expressed concern that banditry in the region may be taking a new and worrying turn, targeting teenagers, especially girls, as a means to further their criminal agenda.

“The incident must be condemned in the strongest terms possible, as targeting teenage girls could be a new tactic that puts the lives of young girls at great risk,” said Cherombor.

He urged families in the area to remain calm as he coordinated with security teams to ensure the safe return of the girl so that she could resume her studies.

The incident came amid a rise in violent incidents in Baringo, Samburu, Elgeyo Marakwet, Turkana and West Pokot counties, where at least 30 people have been shot dead in the past three months.

Among those who have been killed is Catholic priest Fr Allois Bett, who was the Parish priest of St Matthias Lumumba, Tot Parish in Elgeyo Marakwet County.

A group of professionals drawn from Baringo County had expressed anger and dismay over the silence shown by local elected leaders in the region in the wake of the abduction of the 13-year-old girl.

Led by engineer Richard Rutto, the professionals took issue with the leaders for keeping mum as the safety and security of the pupil, who is currently in the hands of captors, hangs in the balance.

Speaking to the media in Eldoret City, the professionals called on the government to move with speed and ensure the safe return of the victim to reunite with her parents in Yatya village.