A mob has burnt to death two suspected Karamojong rustlers in Katakwi district. The incident happened in the early hours of Friday in Abwalakou Village, Ngariam Sub County.
According to the Police report released on Friday afternoon, the dead are part of the eight suspected cattle thieves from Karamoja who allegedly entered the home of Simon Anoku, a resident in Abwalakou Village with intentions to steal cattle.
However, while trying to make away with the cattle, they were seen and heard by vigilant residents who surrounded the area armed with clubs, bows and arrows. They reportedly chased the raiders, fought and killed two while others managed to escape to unknown destinations with wounds.
Oscar Gregg Ageca, the East Kyoga Regional Police Spokesman, says that the community proceeded to burn the two bodies to ashes beyond recognition using petrol and firewood. Ageca says that five of the residents involved in the tumult were injured and are admitted to Katakwi General Hospital.
“The Police of Katakwi headed by the DPC together with the Scene of crime officer and other officers responded to the incident, recorded relevant statements, conveyed the remains of the deceased persons to Katakwi general hospital but postmortem can’t be carried out as the bodies were beyond parameters of a postmortem”, Ageca said in a statement.
Adding that “The Police is cognizant of the fact that Karimojong from the districts of Napak, Moroto, Kotido, Kaabong, et cetera periodically carry out raids to steal animals and in the process the communities where they raid have lost property or died or been in killed as a result of the direct action of the raiders or indirectly as a result of the raids. However, this doesn’t grant communities a right to kill…”, he said.
Moses Iteit, the Ngariam Sub County LC III Chairperson, says that the Karimojongs have killed at least five people in Ngariam and Magoro sub-counties since January 2022. The latest victim of the heinous act by the suspected warriors is a 25- year- old resident of Omasia Village, identified as John Francis Emajing.
He was shot dead using bows and arrows on his way back home by unidentified warriors in January.
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