At least four people have been killed by unknown assailants in the opposition’s stronghold areas in the country’s capital Nairobi on Sunday, police said.

Axar.az reports citing AA.

The early morning killings have sparked protests along the busy outer ring road in Nairobi, where protesters set ablaze six minibuses.

The residents claimed the deaths were ethnically motivated and only those from Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga’s tribe were targeted and slashed to death.

“They were killed by those from the Kikuyu tribe. If they kill us we will also kill them and that is the reason we are burning their vehicles,” an angry protester, who asked not to be named due to security reasons, told Anadolu Agency.

However, Japeth Koome, Nairobi Police chief, has denied claims that the deaths were ethnically motivated.

“This morning we got a report that at least four people were murdered in Mathare area. We went there and found bodies. We are confident that whoever committed the attack will be arrested,” Koome told a news conference in Nairobi.

Koome added that four were killed by a blunt object.