Ethiopian raiders cross into Kenya, two people wounded
June 4, 2006 (NAIROBI) — Two people were wounded, one of them critically, when alleged raiders crossed over from Ethiopia at Dukana in Marsabit northern Kenya.
A Red Cross official told KTN that the raiders, who had stolen 600 goats, were intercepted by Kenyan security personnel and the livestock recovered.
In what has now become a spontaneous trend since the long rains began, an unknown number of raiders believed to be of Ethiopian origin yet again visited Dukana at the Kenya-Ethiopia border.
According to the secretary-general of the Kenya Red Cross Society, Abbas Gullet, the raiders unleashed terror on locals, wounding two but soon Kenyan security forces on the ground managed to repulse the attackers.
The officers were also able to return livestock to the locals. Approximately 600 goats had been stolen.
The Red Cross Society has since sent an ambulance to the region to airlift the injured to Nairobi for specialized medical treatment.
Last April, Kenyan Police have been deployed along the Kenya-Ethiopian border where tension has been mounting for the last one week. The crisis followed attacks and incarceration of Kenyan herders by Ethiopian soldiers.
People of Dukana and El-hadi areas are mainly from the Gabra community. They have been accusing the Federal Government in Southern Ethiopia of being sympathetic to the Boranas, who they have been embroiled in conflict with.
(ST)