Kenya cops kill 11 cattle raiders
2008-02-22 07:23
Nairobi - Kenyan police have killed 11 raiders in the country's volatile Rift Valley province, says a police commander.
The seven were killed late on Wednesday in Laikipia district, a barren region often affected by cattle rustling, around 200km north of the capital, said the commander, asking to remain unnamed.
Four more bodies were still lying in the scene of the fighting by early Thursday, bringing the death toll to 11, an official said.
Some 500 head of cattle were recovered from the raiders, state-run Kenya News Agency reported.
Cattle rustling had increased in many arid Kenyan regions in recent months as owners seek to restock herds badly affected by a searing drought across east Africa over the last three years.
Although rustling was common among the warring communities, it got very bloodier after pastoralist communities acquired modern weapons and abandoned bows and arrows.