Kenyan authorities have arrested Assistant Minister Josephant Nanok over the statements he made in connection with the brutal murder of at least 42 police officers in Kenya's northwest region of Samburu on Nov. 10.

Nanok, Assistant Minister for Wildlife who hails from Turkana region was arrested by the police on Friday night soon appearing on the television show and is being interrogated on Saturday by the police in connection to the massacre.

"Nanok was interrogated on Saturday morning at the CID headquarters following his remarks over the Samburu attacks where several police officers were killed," a senior police officer who did not want to be named told Xinhua on Saturday.

He said the legislator was picked by the police to record a statement on what he knows on the killings which have been roundly condemned by Kenyans and the international community.

Sources said the legislator will be released later on Saturday from police custody but will be arraigned in court on Monday to face unspecified charges.

Nanok and his two other counterparts from Turkana county – Labour Minister John Munyes and lawmaker Ekwee Ethuro made statements opposing the deployment of Kenya Deference Forces (KDF), saying the bandits who killed the police officers were acting on self-defence.

The police are still looking for the Munyes and Ethuro. The three lawmakers from the Turkana region on Thursday said that the deployment of troops in the area amounted to an illegal action which will hurt the voter registration process which is scheduled to start on Monday.

"Right now, KDF forces have been deployed all over Turkana and Samburu County and the local communities are worried that innocent children, women and youth are going to be tortured. This deployment is ill advised because it is testimony that our internal security apparatus have failed," they said.

The government has so deployed 600 police officers in the Samburu to flush out bandits amid stiff resistance from the local leaders to the deployment of the military to restore peace in the area.

The police officers were killed on Nov. 10 while on a mission to hunt cattle rustlers in Suguta Valley after being ambushed and shot arbitrarily by heavily armed militiamen believed to have come from Turkana.

Fears have been expressed fears that the number of police officers killed by cattle rustlers in the troubled region could rise as 1 police officer is still missing.

The armed bandits laid an ambush in Lomelok area before spraying the officers with bullets in an attack that baffled the local administration as well as residents of Baragoi.

Samburu County is made up of three districts namely, Samburu Central, Samburu East and Samburu north districts.

The county is inhabited mainly by the Samburu and Turkana communities although other communities are also represented in the major towns

The main economic activity is pastoralism with livestock being then name source of livelihood. These pastoralists essentially have illegal firearms which they have acquired over time from neighboring countries of South Sudan, Ethiopia Somalia.

So far five people have been charged in connection with the massacre as security forces continue with the search and rescue operation in Suguta Valley which has been branded as the valley of death after a couple of people have been killed by the bandits.