Four people were murdered on Friday night at the Kibarage slums in Dandora, Nairobi, by suspected Mungiki sect members.
The four victims were dragged from their homes in full view of their relatives and asked for identification before they were hacked to death in the bizarre incident that left the shanty neighbourhood in shock.
According to eye witnesses, a group of more than 40 armed Mungiki adherents descended on the village at around 8.30 pm and forcibly ejected their victims from their houses.
A woman who runs a grocery kiosk, which also serves as her home, said she could identify two of the people who killed her husband during the incident.
She said that Juma Otieno, her husband, was watching television when the gang broke down the door and dragged him behind the house where they hacked him to death using pangas.
"I screamed my lungs out but nobody was brave enough to come out to confront them," she said pointing at a spot behind their house where the soil was still drenched in blood.
Another witness, Celestine Ogunja who is a widow, said the group knocked at her door and asked for her husband but she told them she was single.
Ogunja said that they moved on to her neighbour's house and knocked and ordered him out.
"I warned him to not go outside but he did not heed to my advice and they killed him in cold blood," she said.
Ogunja said she did not know the motive for the killings because she was not aware of any disputes amongst the slum population. Some people said there were no rent disputes provoke such attacks.
Armed policemen patrolled the area and took into custody several people to record statements.
By yesterday afternoon there was a mass exodus by villagers of the slum in fear of more attacks from the sect members who had promised last year to take over the security of the whole of Dandora.
Mattresses, pans, bed posts and clothing were loaded hurriedly onto hand-carts which made booming business moving the people to find new habitation.