Police in Kirinyaga are investigating an incident where two brothers were reportedly killed and their bodies lynched by a group people on Sunday morning.

According to the family, one of the brothers was due to travel to Qatar for work related assignment.  

Reports indicate that the two brothers, both of them married, were responding to a distress call on Sunday, at around 2am – when they were attacked.

“They received a call from their cousins who were heading home after attending a party held by the family,” Martin Mwaura, a cousin, told Wananchi Reporting.

“The cousins called the two brothers informing them that a group of people, armed with crude weapons, had attacked them."

“It was then that the two brothers left their houses in a huff, to rush to their cousins and see if they could help them,” said Mwaura. 

According to Mwaura, the two brothers met a hostile group of people, who beat them to a pulp, before lynching them.

The other cousins ran and sought refuge at the Ciagi-ini police post.

The deceased brothers have been identified as Joseph Ndung'u, 35, and Kennedy Gitau, 28.

Karaba police station Officer Commanding Station (OCS) asked residents to maintain calm as they conduct investigations.

“I am asking the people to not take the law into their own hands. Allow us to investigate the incident as police,” the OCS said as she sought to calm residents.

The bodies were taken to Embu Level Five hospital mortuary awaiting postmortem.