RESIDENTS of Spitsbank village in Moutse West, Limpopo, are living in fear after three mutilated bodies of women were found in the bushes outside the village over the last four weeks.

RESIDENTS of Spitsbank village in Moutse West, Limpopo, are living in fear after three mutilated bodies of women were found in the bushes outside the village over the last four weeks.

The villagers fear a serial killer could be on the loose in the area. This, they say, is because the modus operandi used in all incidents is the same.

The discovery of the bodies has sent shock waves through the local community. Women and children especially, said they feared becoming the next victims of the murderer.

They said it looked as if the killer had lured the victims from other villages and brought them to Spitsbank, where they were murdered.

Dennilton police spokesperson Constable Mapitso Aphane said the first mutilated body was found in the bushes without genitals on June 18.

Aphane said another body was found last week - with its throat slit.

She said on Sunday another naked, decomposed and burnt-out body was found in the bushes outside the village.

"We are becoming suspicious about the manner in which all the women have been killed," she said. "We suspect all of them were murdered by the same person, who is not known at this stage."

According to Aphane, the police suspect that the killer might have raped the women before killing them since all the bodies were found naked.

She warned members of the community in the area, especially women, not to go out with strangers.

Meanwhile, community leaders in the Moutse area said they believed the suspect was killing the women for muti purposes since the bodies were found mutilated.