Two men were killed during a violent confrontation linked to an attempted land eviction after residents protested what they described as an unlawful operation, citing a pending court case over the ownership of the disputed land.
According to police, the incident occurred when a group allegedly attempted to evict residents from the land despite the absence of a valid court order.
Residents told officers that the matter was still before the courts and that no legal authority had been issued to facilitate any eviction.
Police said residents further claimed they had received intelligence suggesting that the group intended to burn down a woman’s house, heightening tensions in the area.
During the confrontation, members of the group were reportedly armed with bows and arrows and attempted to defend themselves as clashes erupted.
In the chaos that followed, two men from the group sustained fatal injuries after being stoned. Their bodies were later recovered from a nearby tea plantation and taken to the mortuary pending postmortem examinations.
A team of detectives has since visited the scene as investigations into the killings continue. Police said they are seeking to establish the identities of those involved, the circumstances that led to the violence, and whether any criminal liability arises from the incident.
Authorities noted that the use of hired groups to carry out evictions in land disputes has become increasingly common in various parts of the country.
In many cases, police said, such evictions are conducted without valid court orders, often escalating into violent confrontations that result in injuries, deaths, and destruction of property.
Police added that they are investigating several similar incidents nationwide, some of which have left both those carrying out evictions and residents seriously injured.
Property worth millions of shillings has also been destroyed in land-related conflicts, prompting renewed calls for stricter enforcement of the law and greater oversight of eviction processes.
