A retired Army officer was stabbed to death over pasture disputes with a member of a pastoralist community Mutitu district, Kitui The incident took place on Tuesday at Kalavati/Matikoni village. Mutomo OCPD Thomas Ngeiwa said Nzaluu Mutinda was attacked with a knife by a 20-year-old herder who was looking after camel.

He said a manhunt has been launched for the assailant. "The man was struck with a knife when he confronted the herder-boy for driving camels into his plot of land. He floored the boy who in a bid to free himself drew out a knife and stabbed him in the chest," said Ngeiwa. He said the police later went to Malalani dispensary where Mutinda had been taken and transferred to Kitui District Hospital for specialized attention. He died two hours later.

The OCPD said that that a contingent of police officers has been deployed in the area to keep calm in the area as a lasting solution was being sought over the mounting tension between the indigenous and the encroaching pastoralists. He added that the entire local district security team led by Mutitu DC James Kamau would today tour the area were the incident took place. He said that there is a possibility the pastoralists may be asked to leave to restore peace.

The family spokesman Mulaimu Mavusyu contradicted the police story. "He was attacked by three herders who confronted him as he drove out the camels that had strayed into his plot of land. He did not provoke them in anyway and one of them just pounced on him and sunk the knife into his ribs," Mavusyu moaned who said three other people witnessed the incident.