A man was lynched and 10 houses burnt after villagers raided homes of suspected witches in Nyamira.

Mr Ombini Atandi, 70, was stabbed and set on fire at the Nyamemiso tea buying centre, Manga Division, as Administration Police officers watched.

The officers unsuccessfully tried to scare away the crowd by firing in the air. The villagers were armed with clubs, stones and swords.

Mr Atandi was later rescued, but died on arrival at the Nyamira District Hospital.

Witnesses said the man tried to flee, but the mob caught up with him a kilometre away from his home near Tombe Girls Secondary School.

Police officers dispersed the crowd before taking the man away. Investigations into the incident have started.

The attackers flushed out people from their homes in North Kitutu and Central Kitutu locations and burnt their houses. Journalists saw four houses burning at Gesure village, near Nyaikuro Secondary School.

The orgy of home burning started in Manga Division on Tuesday night, when six houses suspected to belong to witches were set ablaze at Bogwendo village.

According to Chief Ben Mobisa of Central Kitutu, trouble started when names of suspected witches were circulated among villagers.

One of the suspected witches had lost a notebook containing names of dead people at a funeral.

Villagers mounted a search for him after the book was circulated. "The book also contained the names of people targeted to be bewitched," added Mr Mobisa.

In Laikipia, police have arrested two gangsters who on Tuesday night gunned down two schoolboys and injured three others during a raid on a home at Muguongo village, Ngarua Division.

Villagers and police tracked down the attackers to a hideout at the Tingamara area in Rumuruti.

Police said the bandits were ambushed in a house, where they had taken refuge after terrorising villagers all night long.

A rifle, believed to have been used during the raid, was recovered. Also recovered were a bicycle and two blankets. Besides the killings, a girl and two boys were injured in the raid. They were admitted to hospital.