MANDERA, Kenya, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Six people were killed and two others seriously injured in a militia attack near Kenyan border with Ethiopia early Wednesday, government officials said.
North Eastern regional coordinator Mohamud Saleh confirmed the incident in Banisa Sub County, saying most of the victims come from Degodia clan which has been having disputes with Garre community.
"The deaths today are as a result of a revenge mission against Garre community," Saleh said by telephone. Local government officials said the six were killed in two separate incidents in a Chiroqo, a remote village in Banisa Sub County in Mandera.
Banisa Deputy County Commissioner Mathias Chishambo said the six -- five from Degodia and one from Garre communities -- were killed while a father and his son were injured in the fighting.
Chishambo said five people were killed by suspected militia from the Garre clan when they raided the village at 3 a.m. on Wednesday.
"Attackers from the Garre clan raided Choroqo village and killed five villagers, injuring two others on Wednesday," the government official said.
The attack, he said, was a revenge mission after two men from the Garre clan riding a motorcycle were killed in Ethiopia on Tuesday.
"The attackers were revenging killing of two men inside Ethiopia and I cannot understand how happenings in another country can be brought on our land," he said.
Chishambo said after the killing of five at Choroqo, armed Degodia militia killed one man at Domal, a village inhabited by the Garre clan.
"We are sending more police officers to quell the situation that seems to be getting out of hand," he said.
The government official said the attackers are known and an eyewitness can identify them. "They are Kenyans and we shall be arresting them soon," Chisambo added.
Adan Ali, 40, and his nine-year-old son Abdullahi Adan are recovering from wounds inflicted by the attackers. Ali was shot in his left leg, while his son was shot in the chest.
"We received two patients with gunshot wounds but they are in stable condition," said Mohamed Adan, the Medical Superintendent at the facility.
"The man is in stable condition and an X-ray showed the bullet went through the leg and he is improving well," Adan said.
"The boy was lucky as the bullet went through his flesh and did not cause any fractures," the doctor added.
The feuding pastoralist communities in Kenya's north where clashes have been occurring have easy access to illegal weapons since the regions are close to porous borders with neighboring countries that are either war-torn or are emerging from conflict.
Both Garre and Degodia have communal presence and have sophisticated armed militia in Ethiopia who has been used in clan fighting in the region.
The two warring clans of Degodia and Garre have over the years been fighting for supremacy and control of the county something that has degenerated into clashes.
