Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kithure Kindiki has ordered residents living in 27 bandit-prone regions to vacate or else be dealt with as bandits within the next 24 hours.

In a statement on Sunday, CS Kindiki noted that the government has decided to upscale the security operation against bandits which will "require new measures".

The measures, he added, are set to "inflict maximum pain on criminals" and neutralize the banditry menace that has already been declared a national emergency.

"The measures we are announcing today are meant to inject new impetus and push this operation to a new level," said Kindiki.

To realize this objective, CS Kindiki said that residents ought to vacate the marked-out areas providing habitat for the bandits, which have been declared as scenes of crime.

The areas are Korkoron Hills, Tandare Valley and Silale Gorges in Baringo County, Mukogodo Forest; Kamwenje, Warero and Ndonyoriwo; Lekuruki Hills, Losos and Kiape Caves and Sieku Valley in Laikipia County.

Areas of Ltungai Conservancy, Longewan, Nasuur, Lochokia and Lekadaar Escarpments; Lolmolok Caves, Pura Valley, Malaso Escarpment and Suguta Valley in Samburu County have also been declared as scenes of crime.

In Turkana County, residents in Kapelbok, Nakwamoru, Lebokat, Ombollion, Nadomeand Kamur caves are to vacate as well as those from the Turkwell Escarpment at the interface of West Pokot and Turkana Counties.  

Kindiki warned that any person found in the aforementioned areas as from Monday, March 13, "will be treated as a suspect of armed banditry, or as a suspect of aiding and abetting banditry, or an accessory after the fact."

Laying bare the unfortunate adversity presented by the security threat, the interior minister stated over 135 Kenyans, including 20 officers, have been killed in the last seven months 

This week, he added, nearly 12 Kenyans have been killed in Malaso, Pura and Kur Kur areas while 6 others have been murdered in Tot, Elgeyo Marakwet County.

CS Kindiki, therefore, noted that the security has been upscaled and that no stone shall be left unturned in weeding out the bandits from their hideouts.

He affirmed that security forces will not retreat until a remedy to the malady is provided.

"I assure the people of Kenya that we shall neutralize every bandit who defies the Government and engages in the atrocious killing, maiming, and displacement of people from their homes," he said.

"We are taking this war to their hideouts by land and air, with all our weight and might and with all the strength that God has given us to effectively defeat this lamentable catalog of crimes against humanity. We shall never surrender our Country to criminals."

He also said that he will soon be revealing the names of spiritual leaders and politicians who are benefitting from the security threat.