NEW DELHI: Indian police and vigilantes were on Friday hunting for a man suspected to have bludgeoned four women to death in similar attacks that have earned the suspect the nickname “hammerman.” Residents in New Delhi’s central Baljit Nagar residential district armed themselves for night patrols after a housewife was found battered to death in the early hours of Thursday, witnesses said.

“The latest death follows nearly the same pattern as we have seen in the previous three deaths of women,” a senior police officer said.

He said police have been on alert in areas where the mysterious killings have been carried out. They started in July.

In all of the cases the skulls of the victims have been smashed by a “blunt instrument,” probably a hammer, he said. Indian media have branded the killer “hammerman.” In 2001, at least two people jumped to their deaths in terror due to an ape-like attacker — nicknamed “monkeyman” — who haunted the Indian capital for nearly a month before vanishing without being caught.—AFP