Suspected cult members butcher eight in Uganda village

Suspected cult members attacked a village in Uganda, killing at least eight people, including a child as young as three and members of the assailants' families, authorities said.

The assault occurred on Tuesday night in Mizizi A, a hamlet in Kagadi district in Uganda's west, about 250 km from the capital Kampala. Eight others were injured, police said.

"Preliminary information indicates that members of a new cult whose name is yet to be established descended on people, most of whom are their family members, and cut them," the Uganda People's Defence Forces said.

Security forces including from the military and police were on the ground "hunting for the culprits as investigations are ongoing to establish more details about the cult", it said.

Four of those killed were aged under 13, including a three-year-old child, police said.

Police said two of the suspected attackers had been killed by security forces as they responded to the assault.

Kagadi is near the Kingfisher oilfield, one of Uganda's two crude oil projects and is operated by China's CNOOC. There was no indication the oilfield was targeted or involved in any way.