Shock and fear has engulfed residents of Karura village in Kiambaa, Kiambu County after five family members were found dead in their house on Wednesday morning.

The victims included Njoroge Warunge, his wife, their two children, and niece. Their bodies were discovered a day after the family’s farmhand was also found dead in a neighbouring compound.

The farmhand’s body had been severed; his head was found outside his employer’s house while the torso had been dumped in a nearby building site.

Eyewitnesses said those who cleared the scene did not check inside the family’s compound. The second discovery was made after calls to Warunge’s family went unanswered.

Warunge’s body was found outside the house within the compound while the rest were found murdered inside the house. They are believed to have been hacked to death, with police suspecting that the assailants were hitmen on an assassination mission as they did not steal anything.

Homicide detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) are investigating the case.

The family has three other children who had reported back to school at the time of the incident.