A beggar was clubbed to death this morning with a sharp weapon reportedly by an unidentified mob near the seventh mile post in Kelaniya, police said.

They said this was the eighth such instance where beggars had been killed in a similar fashion during the past three months.

Police spokesman Maxi Proctor said the body with severe head injuries was found this morning and the police are yet to find out the motive behind this mindless killing.

The police said they believed that these killings were being carried out by cliques who made money out of these beggars and when the beggars were regularly unable to meet specific targets they end up badly mauled or killed.

The police had earlier recovered the bodies of seven beggars from various locations in urban areas with head injuries.

The Kelaniya Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) will carry out the post mortem examination while the Kelaniya Police are investigating the killing. (Supun Dias)