A family is mourning after a vigilante group killed five of its members — three of them brothers — in Kisii District. Shocked villagers found the mutilated bodies dumped on a footpath by suspected Sungu Sungu members in Nyamonema village. Relatives said a gang of about 50 people flushed out the family members from their houses at about 1am.

The attackers accused them of belonging to a criminal ring that had been terrorizing village residents. Area OCDP, Mr Augustine Kimantira, was for the better part of yesterday holed up in an emergency security meeting. The brothers were identified as Naftali Osoro, 45, James Osoro, 36, and Jared Osoro, 33.

The others were a cousin, Onyonka Machuki, and a nephew, Zablon Menti, 27.The mutilated bodies were found heaped together with their heads smashed. Besides, their hands and legs were tied to each other with ropes. When The Standard visited the area, relatives were in a sombre mood as they came to terms with the tragedy.

They said their kin were innocent and were cattle traders.The gang is reported to have demanded guns from their victims, while vowing to flush out criminals from the area.Osiemo’s son, who escaped the lynching, said the attackers claimed his father had a gun and demanded that he surrenders it."When he failed to produce the weapon, they tied his hands and left with him," he said.

Osiemo’s widow, Mary Kemunto, said the gang also tortured her husband. She said the same gang had last month attacked the family and seriously injured her husband. One of the victim’s widows admitted that her husband was previously involved in crime, but had transformed.

But the mother of the slain brothers, Mrs Nyanchama Osoro, 60, denied claims her sons were gangsters."I don’t know why they were killed. They have never engaged in criminal activities. The killers should tell me why they had to slaughter my sons like animals," she said.

The sobbing mother opined that her sons might have been killed due to a land dispute. "There was a long-standing dispute between one of my sons and neighbours," she said. She said a man, suspected to be a member of the vigilante group, warned her of the attack last week. Sungu Sungu has caused mayhem in the larger Kisii and are said to have killed more than 100 people in the past two years.