Lahore, July 5 (Reuters): Pakistani police suspect a serial killer is murdering homeless people in Lahore where six killings in recent days have spread fear among the city’s destitute.

Six homeless people have been found battered to death with bricks and hammers while they slept in the open in different parts of the eastern city since June 28, a police officer said.

“It looks like someone is killing just for enjoyment. There appears to be no motive,” senior superintendent of Investigations, Chaudhary Shafqaat Ahmed, said today.

Ahmed said the similar way in which the six were beaten to death with heavy objects suggested a link. His men were investigating.

Lahore is Pakistan’s second-largest city and is home to thousands of poor people, many of them labourers from the countryside, who live on the streets. Some homeless are also drug addicts.

One homeless man said he and his friends had heard of the killings and were scared.

“Most of us are now sleeping in groups for security,” said Mohammad Jameel, from the town of Sargodha, 160 km northwest of Lahore.

Last year, 15 homeless people were killed in Lahore in similar circumstances before police arrested three men. One suspect confessed to killing 11 people and was sentenced to death. The other two were released because of a lack of evidence.

A non-governmental welfare organisation that provides shelter for the needy said many people were concerned but there was no rush for shelter at night. “So far, we have not seen a panic for shelter,” said a spokesman.