PHOTO/Courtesy
Fear has engulfed Bambo village, Mandera, after herders discovered a shallow grave in which five bodies were buried.
The four men and one woman were last week reported missing by their relatives.
After finding the grave Monday morning, residents exhumed the bodies and took them to the Lafey Hospital.
According to Nation, a medical personnel at the hospital has confided that a male body was found with in the forehead while the other four appeared to have been strangled.
All the deceased were from Fino Ward but the bodies were found about 65 kilometres away in Warankara ward.
Abdi Adan Orai revealed that his brother disappeared from home last Friday and the family has been searching for him.
“There has been a security operation in Fino and we suspected my brother along with these other four were picked up and killed by security agents before being buried here,” Orai said.
However, Mandera County Commissioner Fredrick Shisia dismissed the claims and pointed fingers at an “enemy within”.
“We are fighting an enemy within us and it is difficult to blame the security agents on this incident when the enemy is applying many tactics,” he said.
“Let people not use this situation to gain political mileage but wait until we conclude investigations and make public our findings on these mysterious deaths,” Mr Shisia said.
Mandera Deputy Governor Omar Maalim has condemned the killings and called for quick investigations from the security forces to arrest the culprits.
“We can’t accept losing our people just like that. I'm calling on the government to come clear on this and many others that have happened in the past,” Mr Maalim said.