The officers died in an ambush over the weekend while trying to recover stolen cattle.

No fewer than 29 Kenyan policemen are now known to have died in an ambush by cattle rustlers in Baragoi, Samburu County, a dry northern region of the country mainly inhabited by nomad communities. Local television stations put the death toll at 30. The BBC quoted a police spokesman as saying the incident happened on Saturday November 10 as the security officers were trying to recover stolen cattle.

Officials said raiders from the ethnic Turkana community who had stolen cattle from members of the Samburu community killed the police who were pursuing them. A regional administrator who did not wish to be named put the death toll at 32, adding that 11 other officers were seriously wounded, including one who had both legs blown off. Osman Warfa, Commissioner for the vast Rift Valley Province, told Reuters news agency on Saturday that the attack was carried out using guns and anti-personnel bombs.

Some of the wounded officers were airlifted to the capital, Nairobi, for treatment. Osman Warfa said the death toll rose due to continued fighting the following day, Sunday. A local resident, Paul Lenaimadu, told AFP news agency that his people feared police reprisals as reinforcements arrive to pursue the robbers. The rustlers the police were pursuing were also suspected of killing 13 people and wounding three others in another raid on October 30, Al Jazeera TV said.

The police only set out after the rustlers when the deadline for the return of the stolen cattle expired. The remoteness of Baragoi explains why it took a day after the attack for the bodies to be discovered, a police source said. Turkana and Samburu tribes frequently raid cattle from each other and fight over grazing land and watering points. Samburu County has a national game reserve and neighbouring Turkana County is where explorer, Tullow Oil, struck Kenya’s first promising oil find earlier this year.

Cattle theft and the ensuing clashes between rival groups claim dozens of lives every year in arid northern Kenya. It is rare, however, for police officers to be attacked. Police numbers in northern Kenya are said to be low and the officers poorly equipped, encouraging cattle herders to arm themselves against attacks from rival groups.