Three people are feared dead and ten others critically injured following an anti-riot police confrontation with rioters in Kisii Town.
The three are said to be a worker and a student at Gusii Institute and Technology (GIT), and a driver who was shot at the Kisii stage on Friday afternoon. This is after the General Service Unit (GSU) took on rioters at the terminus.
Earlier in the day, reports had spread that a police officer was killed by rioters after failing to outrun the mob.
Students of GIT plus members of the public barricaded Kisii Town starting Thursday evening following a grisly road accident that claimed two lives, one was a student and the other a worker at GIT.
According to witnesses, the ill-fated lorry was impounded by the traffic police officer at Kegati, and while driving it to Kisii Central Police Station, it lost control rolling several times before it crashed near the college’s gate.
However, Kisii County Police Commander Simon Kiragu has denied the allegations and confirmed that only two people died in the Thursday evening incident near GIT. The ill-fated lorry was heading to Kisii Town from Keroka transporting electricity poles.
Kiragu confirmed that the police officer who is said to have been killed and her gun razed was instead admitted at a Kisii hospital with critical injuries.
He warned everybody against taking the law on their hands.
During the fracas at about 6pm on Thursday, two journalists, one from the Nation and another from the Standard were injured. The two were allegedly assaulted as they covered the incident.
The irate mob burnt the lorry and looted the Tosha petrol station near the crime scene.