ELDORET, Kenya (Reuters) - A man armed with a machete attacked the country home of Kenya’s deputy president and injured a guard before holing himself up in an outbuilding, police said on Saturday, 10 days before presidential and legislative elections.

FILE PHOTO - A view shows the home of Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto in Sugoi village near Eldoret, Kenya, in this photo taken August 4, 2010. Picture taken August 4, 2010. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Deputy President William Ruto was out with his family at the time of the attack in the western town of Eldoret. Ruto is the running mate of President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is seeking a second and final term in office in the Aug. 8 elections.

“In circumstances that are yet unclear, he hit an officer on duty ... with a machete and managed to enter a farm complex,” Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet said in a statement, adding that officers were still trying to arrest the assailant.

“Other officers were quickly mobilised, and the intruder was forced to hide at a building that is still under construction next to the gate,” Boinnet said.

Local television stations had reported earlier that gunmen were behind the attack on Ruto’s home, with NTV News and KTN News reporting that gunshots were heard at the scene.

“The injured officer is undergoing treatment and is in a stable condition,” Boinnet said, adding that Ruto’s house was secure.

Typically the deputy president’s residence is guarded by an elite paramilitary police unit.

Related Coverage Kenyan police says man with machete attacked deputy president's home

Kenya will hold legislative and regional county representative elections at the same time as the presidential vote.

Ruto and Kenyatta spent Saturday campaigning in the counties of Kitale, Kericho and Narok, the president’s office said in a statement. Neither commented on the incident.

Officials from Ruto’s office were not available for immediate comment.</s></s>A man with a machete has entered Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto's home after wounding a guard, police say.

Security forces surrounded the farm complex in Sugoi village, outside the western city of Eldoret.

Police said the wounded guard was in a stable condition.</s>related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

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A man armed with a machete attacked the country home of Kenya's deputy president and injured a guard before holing himself up in an outbuilding, police said on Saturday, 10 days before presidential and legislative elections.

ELDORET, Kenya: A man armed with a machete attacked the country home of Kenya's deputy president and injured a guard before holing himself up in an outbuilding, police said on Saturday, 10 days before presidential and legislative elections.

Deputy President William Ruto was out with his family at the time of the attack in the western town of Eldoret. Ruto is the running mate of President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is seeking a second and final term in office in the Aug. 8 elections.

"In circumstances that are yet unclear, he hit an officer on duty ... with a machete and managed to enter a farm complex," Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet said in a statement, adding that officers were still trying to arrest the assailant.

"Other officers were quickly mobilised, and the intruder was forced to hide at a building that is still under construction next to the gate," Boinnet said.

Local television stations had reported earlier that gunmen were behind the attack on Ruto's home, with NTV News and KTN News reporting that gunshots were heard at the scene.

"The injured officer is undergoing treatment and is in a stable condition," Boinnet said, adding that Ruto's house was secure.

Typically the deputy president's residence is guarded by an elite paramilitary police unit.

Kenya will hold legislative and regional county representative elections at the same time as the presidential vote.

Ruto and Kenyatta spent Saturday campaigning in the counties of Kitale, Kericho and Narok, the president's office said in a statement. Neither commented on the incident.

Officials from Ruto's office were not available for immediate comment.</s>NAIROBI (Reuters) - A man armed with machete was behind an attack on the home of Kenya's deputy president in the western town of Eldoret in which a guard was injured, police said on Saturday.

"In circumstances that are yet unclear, he hit an officer on duty ... with a machete and managed to enter a farm complex," Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet said in a statement.

Local television stations reported earlier that gunmen were behind the attack on the home of William Ruto.

"Other officers were quickly mobilized and the intruder was forced to hide at a building that is still under construction next to the gate," Boinnet said. "The injured officer is undergoing treatment and is in a stable condition. Specialist officers have been deployed to deal with the intruder."</s>NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A lone man armed with a machete attacked and wounded a guard at the home of Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto then entered the compound, Kenya’s police chief said Saturday.

Specialist forces were deployed to find the intruder, who hid in an unfinished building, police chief Joseph Boinnet said in a statement. It was not clear what happened to the man. Calls to Boinnet’s spokesman went unanswered.

According to Capital FM Radio, unknown gunmen struck the home around noon Saturday, moments after Ruto left to campaign with the president for re-election in the Aug. 8 vote. The residence was near Eldoret, a town 194 miles (312 kilometers) northwest of Nairobi.

Analysts have been worried about violence around the election and the Islamist extremist group Al-Shabab recently threatened to disrupt the vote.

Al-Shabab has carried out more than 100 attacks in Kenya since 2011 in retribution for the country sending troops in to Somalia, where the extremists are based.</s>Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto (centre) and his wife Rachael (right) are escorted as they walk to their home in Sugoi village near Eldoret, Kenya in this photo taken August 4, 2010. — Reuters picNAIROBI, July 30 — At least one assailant stormed into the home of Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto yesterday and injured a policeman, less than two weeks before the country votes in high-stakes polls, the police and security sources said.

Ruto was not present during the attack, the details of which remain unclear. Police say it was carried out by one man armed with a machete, but several security sources told AFP the assault was staged by multiple people using guns.

"There are armed people who staged the attack and have shot the GSU officer and stolen his gun," one security official said, referring to the elite police General Security Unit deployed to guard Ruto's house.

A second source, a senior police officer, said security forces are trying to establish if there are still attackers in the deputy president's "expansive" home near the town of Eldoret, some 312 kilometres northwest of the capital Nairobi.

"More security personnel have been deployed and a security operation is ongoing," the officer said, and witnesses reported hearing several gunshots from the compound shortly after reinforcements arrived.

Their accounts differed from a statement issued by Kenya's police hours after the assault, which said someone carrying a machete attacked a police officer guarding the entrance to the residence and then fled into the compound.

"Other officers were quickly mobilised and the intruder was forced to hide at a building that is still under construction next to the gate," Kenya's police chief Joseph Boinnet said in a statement.

The attack occurred despite the round-the-clock presence of guards from the GSU's top-notch reconnaissance unit.

A spokesman for Ruto declined to comment but the security official said the deputy president had left the house shortly before the attack to attend rallies alongside President Uhuru Kenyatta, his running mate who faces a tight re-election contest on August 8 against longtime opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Ruto's home sits in Kenya's western Rift Valley area, the flashpoint for an outbreak of election violence after the disputed 2007 polls that killed 1,100 people and tarnished Kenya's image as a regional beacon of safety and stability.

According to opinion polls, this year's election will be close and tensions have been rising.

Odinga has repeatedly claimed the government is scheming to steal the election, while Kenyatta has accused Odinga of trying to delay the polls.

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch said it had received reports of threats and voter intimidation in Naivasha, a flashpoint town in 2007 and one of the potential hotspots in this year's election.

In the Rift Valley, hate speech flyers have been circulating and some local residents have already left their homes.

Gideon Moi, son of former president Daniel arap Moi and an influential senator from the Rift Valley, released a statement calling yesterday's assault "shocking and worrying."

"Kenyans at this moment want to peacefully participate democratically in electing their leaders and no criminal element or group should be allowed to jeopardise peace at this critical time," Moi said.

The 2007 bloodshed haunted both Ruto and Kenyatta long after it ended, when the International Criminal Court put both on trial for orchestrating the violence.

Those charges were later dropped, with ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda blaming a relentless campaign of victim intimidation for making a trial impossible. — AFP</s>Mr Ruto's home in Sugoi village near the city of Eldoret

Kenyan police say they have shot dead an attacker who forced his way into the rural home of Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto, ending a siege that lasted several hours.

Mr Ruto and his family were not at the compound near the western city of Eldoret at the time.

The man had entered the residence after injuring a police guard with a machete and stealing his gun, police said.

The incident comes days before Kenya holds presidential elections.

Police chief Joseph Boinnet told local media the situation was now “under control”.

“There is no threat now because he was the only one.”

There were no further details about the attack.

Earlier reports suggested a number of gunmen had entered Mr Ruto’s home, but police later clarified there was only one attacker.

There have been conflicting reports about how many guns the attacker used.

Mr Boinnet told Capital FM News that only one firearm, belonging to the security guard, had been recovered from the gunman.

However, Rift Valley Regional Co-ordinator Wanyama Musiambo told reporters the attacker had used a number of guns after breaking into a police armoury in the compound.

“From the exchange of fire we thought it was more than one attacker, because he used different firearms,” he said in quotes carried by Reuters news agency.

“After the operation we discovered that it was one gunman, but because he was inside there, he could change positions and firearms because he had access to the guns. And the guns he was using were ours,” he added.

The deputy president had left the home hours before the attack, heading to a campaign rally in the town of Kitale with President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Mr Kenyatta is seeking re-election on 8 August. Legislative and regional elections will also be held on the same day.

While Kenya’s 2013 elections passed relatively peacefully, there was serious post-election violence following the 2007 polls, which left more than 1,000 people dead and 600,000 displaced from their homes.

However, experts say they do not expect to see the same level of conflict in the coming elections.</s>Nairobi - Unknown gunmen attacked the home of Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto on Saturday seriously injuring a policeman, less than two weeks before the country votes in high-stakes polls, two security sources told AFP.

Ruto was not home during the attack. An officer from the elite police General Service Unit (GSU) seriously injured, a security official who was not authorised to speak to the press said. “There are armed people who staged the attack and have shot the GSU officer and stolen his gun,” the official said. Security forces are trying to establish if there are still attackers in the deputy president’s “expansive” home near the town of Eldoret, some 312 kilometres (194 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi, a senior police officer said. “More security personnel have been deployed and a security operation is ongoing,” the officer said.

The attack occurred despite the round-the-clock presence of guards from the GSU’s top-notch reconnaissance unit.

A spokesman for Ruto declined to comment but the security official said the deputy president had left the house shortly before the attack to attend a rally alongside President Uhuru Kenyatta, his running mate who faces a tight re-election contest on August 8 against longtime opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Ruto’s home sits in Kenya’s western Rift Valley area, the flashpoint for an outbreak of election violence after the disputed 2007 polls that killed 1,100 people and tarnished Kenya’s image as a regional beacon of safety and stability.

According to opinion polls, this year’s election will be close and tensions have been rising.

Odinga has repeatedly claimed the government is scheming to steal the election, while Kenyatta has accused Odinga of trying to delay the polls.

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch said it had received reports of threats and voter intimidation in Naivasha, a flashpoint town in 2007 and one of the potential hotspots in this year’s election.

In the Rift Valley, hate speech flyers have been circulating and some local residents have already left their homes.

The 2007 bloodshed haunted both Ruto and Kenyatta long after it ended, when the International Criminal Court put both on trial for orchestrating the violence.

Those charges were later dropped, with ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda blaming a relentless campaign of victim intimidation for making a trial impossible.</s>A gunman and a police officer were killed in an attack on Deputy President William Ruto’s residence in the western Kenyan town of Eldoret, a senior administrator said on Sunday.

According to the police, the gunman was armed with a machete when the incident occurred. “From the exchange of fire we thought it was more than one attacker, because he used different firearms, but after we subdued him, we found only one man dead, plus our officer who he had killed,” Wanyama Musiambo, Rift Valley Regional Coordinator, told reporters at the scene on Sunday according to Reuters.

The attack started a few minutes after Deputy President Ruto and his family left home for a political rally and joined President Uhuru Kenyatta in the neighbouring town. Ruto and Kenyatta spent Saturday campaigning in the counties of Kitale, Kericho and Narok, the president’s office said in a statement. Neither of them commented on the incident.

The incident comes days before Kenya sees its presidential, legislative and regional elections. While President Kenyatta is seeking a second term, Ruto is his running mate.

Kenya’s elections in 2013 were rather peaceful when compared to the preceding 2007 vote. More than 1,000 people were killed and 60,000 were displaced because of the election violence in 2007. However, similar incidents of violence are not expected this year when elections are held on August 8.

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A man wielding a machete attacks the home of Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto, injuring one guard, 10 days before national elections. Ruto and his family were not home at the time. The assailant fled to a farm complex, reportedly hiding in an unfinished building. There are other media reports that gunmen also struck the home.