POLICE have picked up two suspects for questioning in connection with the murder of a 10-year-old who was also reportedly raped in Rugare.

Sources close to the investigations yesterday said the two were picked up over the weekend before being released as investigations continue.

Police suspect the girl, Stacy Munjoma, could have been raped before the murder by unknown assailants.

Detectives from the CID Homicide section are still deployed in various areas of the city investigating the case.

Although the details were still sketchy by yesterday, police suspect that the assailants killed the girl so that they would not be identified.

A post-mortem was conducted last Friday at Harare Central Hospital mortuary but police are yet to release the results. Stacy, who reportedly went missing in Rugare on Sunday, was found dead on Wednesday.

Her body was found at around 9am near the Rugare Community Hall security wall by a man who was tending to his crops.

She was half naked while part of her blouse had blood stains.

The girl visited her relatives in Kambuzuma, which is adjacent to Rugare, for the weekend.

She was accompanied back home by her two cousins who later left her alone near the intersection of Kambuzuma and Nyashanu roads.

It is believed that she met the assailants who kidnapped her along the way.

The following day, her grandparents went to look for her in Kambuzuma, but were informed that she had left the previous day whereupon they made a report to the police. Police discovered that Stacy was only wearing a floral blouse that had blood stains.

She had bruises inside her left thigh, while a bag containing clothes and towels lay beside the body.

Stacy's black-and-white pant was more than a metre away from the body and there were struggle marks at the scene.