November 5, 2014 - Today's News In Gazetikenya

Shame: How slain APs

begged for help in vain

SECURITY | Internal communication points accusing finger at systems failure that led to Kapedo massacre

Police officers who were under attack by bandits in Kapedo made desperate calls for help from Nairobi for 30 hours, but none came. The officers were asking for air support and reinforcements, but all their attempts to get help, using their personal mobile phones as well as the official radio communication equipment, went unanswered.

The raid left 22 dead, among them three civilians. Fresh details indicate that the policemen, under the command of the officer in charge of operations at the General Service Unit (GSU), Mr Augustine Nthumbi, asked police headquarters for an aircraft to assist in aerial surveillance during the operation. In a brief to police headquarters, the officers gave a description of how they conducted a recovery operation following an attack on a convoy that was ferrying KCSE examination papers in the area. The commanders reported how they tried several ways — through the GSU Kapedo Camp, Lomelo AP camp and through mobile phones — to get an aircraft, without success.

The aircraft, preferably a helicopter, would also have come in handy in lighting up the area when it grew dark that ill-fated Saturday. Only on Sunday, was a Kenya Wildlife Service helicopter, registration number 5Y-KWW, sent to the area. However, those on board could not locate the missing officers. Several hours later, their bodies were found. Only three of the officers survived the attack. The ill-fated operation was meant to hunt down the killers of the GSU officers and also recover the wreckage of a Land Cruiser the GSU were using. Escort vehicle According to the briefing sent to police headquarters after the incident, a platoon of AP officers had been asked to escort the Land Cruiser, while others proceeded on patrol to Lomelo.

The latter was expected to follow the escort for the wrecked vehicle later. The briefing also reveals that local leaders from Turkana County had informed the police that they had been ambushed on their way to Kapedo and that they had retreated to Lomelo. The APs tried to find out what was happening through police radio communication but did not succeed. The team that was supposed to escort them also failed to arrive as expected. They had no help when they were attacked by the bandits who also took away all their firearms.

According to the briefing, the names of the three civilians had not been established. It has since been established that one of the civilians was Mr John Kamau, 19, a mechanic who was to help the officers to tow the wreckage of the Land Cruiser. The survivors of the ambush were AP Constables Francis Mathai and Zachary Mugendi from West Pokot and Constable Livingstone Karunga from Central Pokot. President Uhuru Kenyatta visited the area on Sunday and ordered the residents to return the firearms which had been stolen from the slain officers. By yesterday evening, only five firearms had been surrendered..

Gazeti Kenya

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