Two brothers, watchman butchered in Garissa attack

The scene at Kilas food court in Garissa town where three people were killed by unknown people on February 23, 2017. /STEPHEN ASTARIKO
The scene at Kilas food court in Garissa town where three people were killed by unknown people on February 23, 2017. /STEPHEN ASTARIKO

Three people were hit with blunt objects on their heads, and killed,

while they slept

at a hotel in Garissa town on Thursday morning.

The two waiters and a private security guard were attacked by

unknown people at about 3 am.

People at the hotel said they did not see the killers as they were too quick.

It is not clear how many attackers gained access to the hotel undetected. The establishment has a perimeter wall.

Police identified the victims as watchman

Kassim Rashid and waiters Abdisalan Ibrahim and Salat Salah.

They said the men were in their 30s and that two of them were brothers.

The victims succumbed to excessive bleeding while one

other person escaped and was taken to Garissa County Referral Hospital.

The gang did not steal anything from the victims in the incident at Kilas food court. The victims had been trying to raise the alarm by phone before they were killed.

Garissa county commissioner James Kianda said police were looking into information they had received from members of the public.

Kianda, who addressed journalists accompanied by

top security chiefs in the county, described the murders as heinous but asked the public to remain calm and work with them.

“We are treating this incident as a normal crime. We

urge members of the public to stop speculating in the electioneering period,”

he said.

The bodies were examined by a doctor and released to families for burial in accordance with Islamic rites.

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