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Kitgum, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Suspected Karamojong cattle rustlers have killed three people in Orom sub county in Kitgum district.
Orom sub county chairperson Quirino Olum says the armed rustlers believed to be seven in number, raided Lapetak village in Loliya parish on Tuesday evening with intentions of stealing livestock. However, they were repulsed by residents who raised an alarm.
He says some of the residents decided to pursue the rustlers who opened gunfire killing two of them on the spot and injuring another before escaping towards Obwore and Agoromin villages on their way to Kaceri sub county in Kotido district. The injured died moments later while being rushed to Namukora health centre IV.
Olum identifies the deceased as Mark Lokwang, a former crime preventer, Bosco Oling and one only identified as Okwera.
However, the Kitgum Resident District Commissioner William Komakech downplayed the alleged cattle raid saying intelligence information indicates that the attack was planned in retaliation for a failed marriage. According to Komakech, one of the attackers was an estranged husband whose wife returned from Kotido to Orom and got married to another man.
Komakech says the assailants have been identified and his office is in talks with his counterparts in Kotido and Kaabong districts of Karamoja to apprehend them.
The attack comes a few days after a security meeting involving the Defense State Minister Charles Engola, the Ethics and Integrity State Minister and Dodoth County MP Fr. Simon Lokodo, their Karamoja Affairs counterpart Moses Kizige and district leaders from East Acholi and Karamoja sub region. The meeting was convened to discuss the increasing security threats and livestock thefts in the region.
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