A 30-year-old woman killed her nine-year-old daughter after she threw her off from the sixth floor of an apartment in Mlolongo area, Machakos County.

The woman also injured a second daughter after she fell from the same spot. According to police and witnesses, the woman attempted suicide by jumping off from the sixth floor but did not die. She was left with serious injuries.

The motive of the incident is yet to be known.

Witnesses who are tenants at the apartment said Esther Mueni had climbed to the sixth floor of the building with her two daughters before first pushed off the first one who died after landing on the ground.

The woman and the four-year-old daughter were rescued from the scene and rushed to the hospital where they were admitted in serious condition.

Police said the incident happened on Thursday August 21 evening.

The body of the girl was moved to the mortuary pending an autopsy and other investigations.

The woman was admitted in hospital under police watch pending possible arraignment for murder and attempted murder.

Elsewhere in Kiambu Town, a student at the Kiambu Township Secondary School was found dead after a suicide mission.

Police said her body was found hanging on a tree at the Fair View Farm in the area on Thursday.

The teenage girl was a form three student at the school and has been suffering from bipolar disorder.

Her family said this was her third attempt to die by suicide and she was also due for her clinic at the Mathare Mental Hospital.

The body was moved to the mortuary pending autopsy and investigations.

Police say cases of suicide have been on the rise amid calls for action to address the same.

Police say the trend has been worrying and increasing as up to two cases are reported daily.

The World Health Organisation says such cases are attributed to joblessness, death, academic failures or pressures, legal difficulties and financial difficulties.

Other reasons are bullying, previous suicide attempts, history of suicide in a family, alcoholism and substance misuse, depression and bipolar disorder.

WHO rates suicide as a serious global public health issue that is among the top 20 leading causes of death worldwide.