Three Kenyans have been killed and three others seriously injured in a bandit attack in South Sudan.
The trio were shot dead when bandits ambushed them as they were being driven to a building site in Kapoeta County.
The bodies of the victims arrived in Kitale to an emotional reception from relatives who jammed Mt Elgon Hospital.
A group of 25 Kenyans from Trans-Nzoia County had been recruited by an Asian businessman in Kitale to work at a construction site at Kapoeta County in South Sudan.
Eleven of them were dropped off at a construction site at Narus town while the rest proceeded to Chukutum, some 300km away.
"We dropped 11 of our colleagues at a construction site at Narus and then proceeded. But we made a stop at Kapoeta after our vehicle developed a mechanical problem," narrated Mr Henry Simiyu, a survivor.
Assault rifles
He said the group was forced to sleep at Kambi Fifiti before proceeding with the journey the next morning. "We just about 30km away from Chukutum when seven men armed with assault rifles emerged from the bush and started shouting and shooting at us."
Simiyu, who spoke to The Standard at Mt Elgon Hospital in Kitale, had bullet wounds on both hands and his back. He narrated how their driver, Mr Titus Wekesa sped off as bandits pursued them on foot while shooting at the vehicle.
"Two of our colleagues who had been shot and seriously wounded died on the spot while the third victim died before we could reach a local health center," recalled another survivor, Mr Wilson Mabonga who was shot in the right hand
Source:http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000052476&cid=4&ttl=Kenyans%20gunned%20down%20in%20South%20Sudan