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The new wave of attacks in banditry-prone counties in the North Rift which has left at least ten people dead in the past three weeks has sparked fears that bandits who had been subdued following the government’s massive security operation in the area are beginning to regroup.

Uneasy calm was slowly beginning to be realised in many parts of the region following the rollout of the multi-agency operation which was being coordinated by the Kenya Police Service (KPS) with the assistance of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).

Just last weekend, two people including a teenager, were shot dead at the restive Kerio Valley in Elgeyo Marakwet county.

Perhaps the most painful was the killing of Joseph Betaki on Sunday following another ambush by armed criminals at Liter area. Betaki’s mother died in the hands of bandits during a similar attack in 2018.

The same day, a primary schoolboy Evans Kiprono was shot dead at Kamologon area in the same county. “We are very devastated as a family. We have not even healed from the loss of my mother who was also shot dead in 2018. It is too much pain,” the late Betaki’s brother Zephaniah Betaki told People Daily.

The killings have cast doubt on the viability of the security operation, which had earlier this year seen guns go silent in the region. “For how long will we continue losing innocent lives in this region for the government to act? This bloodletting should come to a stop,” said James Kirono, a resident. Betaki’s death came barely a month after two herders were shot dead in Kaben location in the volatile Kerio Valley.

Another two were killed the same day as they attempted to recover their livestock from the armed bandits.

The killings came days after Roads Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen led other leaders from the region in holding a security meeting in the region.