Kenya's president on Sunday ordered all guns and attackers be turned over to authorities in a northern region after raiders ambushed and killed 22 police.
President Uhuru
Kenyatta traveled to the country's North Rift region a day after the slaughter
of the police force.
"We will take
firm action against those who killed security officers in this area. These
criminals must pay for their heinous act," Kenyatta told a gathering of
elders.
Regional
powerbrokers said the attackers mistook the police for an invading tribe.
Tribal violence in northern Kenya, often over cattle, is common.
Kenyatta ordered
the tribe to turn over those responsible for the attack immediately. The tribe
asked that they be given two weeks to do so.
Leaders of the
Pokot tribe asked the president for forgiveness and asked for help in solving a
long running boundary dispute with the nearby Turkana people.
In another recent
attack, on Oct. 25, armed bandits attacked two vehicles belonging to an
advanced security team and killed three officers and two civilians.
In a second violent
incident, a Kenyan military official says that troops shot and killed six
machete-wielding attackers who tried to gain entry into a barracks on the
coast.
Spokesman Col.
David Obonyo said the gang of about 15 people tried to carry out the Sunday
morning attack in Mombasa. Initially two attackers tried to attack a military
guard with machetes, then troops opened fire.
One attacker was
caught and arrested and is being investigated. Authorities estimate that eight
escaped.