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Agago, Uganda| AFP | THE INDEPENDENT | The Army in Agago district has recovered 54 cattle from suspected armed Karamojong cattle thieves.
The thugs who were armed with guns, bows and arrows had raided Mora village in Ngora Parish, Paimol Sub County on Monday night and stole 54 cattle from a kraal belonging to farmers in the area.
Silvio Odong, one of the livestock farmers whose animals were looted says the thieves struck their kraal with more than 60 animals at about 11:50 pm on Monday.
He notes that the thugs fired live bullets in the air to scare away vigilantes who were guarding the kraal before gaining access. Odong, however, says several locals begun making alarms and mobilizing other vigilantes and security personnel, a move that forced the armed men to flee the area.
According to Odong, the repeated incursions of Karamojong armed men in their area is affecting their agricultural productivity and livelihood improvement, years after armed insurgency subsided in the region.
He says although the local community have formed vigilantes to guard their kraals, their lives are under constant risks because they are fighting cattle thugs armed with guns. Odong called for the deployment of more security personnel to counter the influx of armed cattle thugs in Paimol sub-county.
Linos Ngompek, Agago Resident District Commissioner says the cattle thugs raided the village armed with six AK47 assault rifles but were scared away by the army and local vigilantes.
He notes that security personnel from Agago and Kotido are jointly coordinating to ensure that the thugs are trapped through their porous entry point through Omiya Pacwa sub-county that borders Kotido district.
Ngompek says the 51 animals abandoned by the thugs have been handed over to their respective owners adding that three are still missing.
This is the third time in a space of only one week that suspected armed Karamojong thieves from Jie tribe in Kotido district have invaded the villages of Paimol Sub County.
Last week, two suspected Karamojong thieves were killed by local vigilantes in the sub-county after a botched raid in the villages of Ananga and Kokil.
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