At least nine members of a family were killed on Wednesday after armed assailants opened fire on them while they were asleep in a house in the Bagar Darra area of Batkhela Tehsil, Malakand in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
According to police and rescue officials, the suspects broke into the house at around 2am and opened indiscriminate fire on the sleeping family, killing men, women and children of the house allegedly over a marital dispute.
Based on information collected thus far, officials of the Malakand Levies force suspect that the murders were committed by a son-in-law of the house.
The suspect’s wife was reportedly staying in her parents’ home after a dispute with him. When the suspect failed to resolve the quarrel with his wife, he barged into her home and murdered the family before fleeing.
Police suspected the involvement of close relatives.
“One of the deceased woman had a tussle with her husband and she was living with her parents. We suspect that her husband attacked the family with the help of her friends or relatives and put the entire family to death,” said a police official.
The incident shocked the area and local residents staged a protest demonstration demanding the arrest of the accused responsible for the heinous crime. They later dispersed peacefully when the district administration assured them that investigation in the case had been launched.
The deceased were identified as Hasan Shah, Hazrat Ali, Hazrat Bilal, Zohran, Zehran, Rabia, Ruqqaya Bibi and Habiba, wife of Hasan Shah.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 29th, 2023.
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