A dense crowd of fear has gripped Blantyre Kabula constituency following reports about a series of unexplained murders that have taken place the past few weeks, Malawi News has established.

The development comes hot on the heels of another round of deaths caused by hacking within the city and other places across the country in the months of June and July.

However, National Police publicist Davie Chingwalu said the law enforcers have stepped up security across the country iFollowing the recent security threat, people of Machinjiri, Chirimba, Chemusa and Mbayani locations have formed vigilante groups to counter the mysterious murderers whom unconfirmed reports indicate have claimed five lives in July alone.

According to Group Village Headman Mussa Magasa people in the area are living in absolute fear despite efforts by security operatives to manhunt the blood thirsty mysterious murderers.

"I can confirm that in the past two weeks alone two people have been killed by unknown assailants in this area. One I saw with my own eyes and the other case was reported to me officially although I did not see the dead body myself.It is a desperate situation where people are being forced in to homes by 6 pm. This is negatively affecting businesses as well as other spheres of life," Magasa said.

Currently GVH Magasa has imposed a 7:30 pm curfew in the area under his jurisdiction to protect people from being attacked. By the set time all illicit beer traders have been ordered to close their premises to avoid harbouring criminals. But Magasa did not confirm reports from some social media sites which claimed that some of the dead bodies have been found with some parts missing.

"Honestly although I have also heard those rumours but the body of the man I saw was intact save for the stab wounds," he added.

When asked to verify the information Blantyre Police publicist Lameck Thembachako refused saying he needed more time. But parliamentarian for the area Felix Njawala said the situation is slowly getting under control following weeks of horror.

"So far, we have been working together with the police who have been conducting night patrols in the area including plain cloth officers who are there on the ground," Njawala said, "besides we have also held meetings with community policing groups in Machinjiri, Chirimba and Mbayani where we have given out kits for local security personnel."

In an interview with Malawi News, Chingwalu admitted the increase of murders in the past weeks but said decisive action been taken by police.

"Indeed since early July there has been an increase in cases of murder across the country but as at now the situation has been contained. As police we cannot sit back and watch. We have so far upped security across the country more especially in the trouble zones we intensified both day and night patrols," said Chingwalu.

"We cannot generalize the pattern of the cases because they are mixed, apart from the ones that have been in the limelight some have emanated from drinking fights and mob justice. All in all, we have put in some serious security mechanisms to deal with the problem," he said.

Chingwalu added that so far investigations by police are yielding results although he did not disclose who has been netted.