A relative of the middle-aged couple killed by a suicide bomber in Kamloma village, Nyakach, Kisumu County, allegedly owed the suspect Sh30,000 from the sale of a parcel of land.
Charles Owino, a brother of Petro Onyango, 54, who died in the attack alongside his wife Mary Atieno, said the suspect had summoned him to the home but he declined to go.
"When he arrived at my brother's homestead he sent for me. But I refused to go," Mr Owino said.
"Minutes later I heard a loud explosion and found my brother unconscious and his wife dead. I still don't know the reason why he used explosives to kill my brother," he said.
The couple’s teenage daughter, Nancy Akoth, suffered serious injuries and was being treated at Kisumu County Referral Hospital.
Officers from the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit have taken over investigations into the suicide bombing, as it emerged that the attacker, who also died in the blast, wore the device on his waist.
Police said the man had been on their radar and was a suspect in another explosion in Katito last year.
Police described the Tuesday evening incident as an act of terrorism, with preliminary investigations indicating that the suspect wore a suicide vest before sneaking into his target’s home.
The man, identified as John Odhiambo Ondiek, was an orphan and the fourth-born among five siblings.
Ondiek studied at Obuon Primary School, a few kilometres from his homestead. With no one to pay his school fees, he dropped out at Standard Five aged 14.
His former school mate Edwin Odhiambo said he was generally a good person and an average performer in school.
He relocated to Mombasa in 2000, not to be seen in his village until last December when he was involved in a terrorist attack at the Katito market.
Preliminary police investigations show that Ondiek had made links with Al-Shabaab terrorists in Mombasa and Lamu but failed to move to Somalia.
"In 2018 he lived for a while in the village before he sold the family land and moved to Katito. But he built a small mud house, which he never lived in," said Victor Odhiambo.
"His brothers used to complain about his behaviour, because he had sold the whole family land not minding his siblings," said Ms Ruth Otieno.
Police records show that a similar incident occurred in December 2020, when the man detonated a home-made bomb, injuring two people in a domestic feud.
Nyakach OCPD Daniel Chacha said the relationship between the bomber and the victims is still unclear.
