Trouble started on Saturday when a 40-year-old Maasai businessman was shot dead in Esoit trading centre during a robbery incident. A young boy was also wounded during the incident that occurred at an MPESA shop.
“In retaliation, the Maasais accused their Kipsigis neighbours of being behind the killing and that is when they clashed and killed five whose bodies were discovered in the forest this (Sunday) morning,” a senior police officer in the region said.
Those killed in the forest were charcoal traders who were ambushed at Pisagini area.
“Security has been intensified and we have patrols in the area by soldiers from Kilgoris and General Service Unit officers,” another senior police officer told Capital FM News.
While independent sources placed the death toll at 7, police insisted that only six people had been killed since Saturday.