Motive unknown: Eight members of a displaced family shot dead

The IDPs had shifted to Kahi Bakro Bandha from Togh Sarai camp two days earlier.

HANGU: Eight members of a family were shot dead by unidentified assailants in Kahi Bakro Bandha, Hangu in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Hangu DSP Gul Jamal said the victims belonged to the Alikhel tribe of Orakzai Agency. They had migrated from the agency six years back and were living in Togh Sarai camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) since then.

Jamal said the family had shifted to Kahi Bakro Bandha two days earlier. At around 4am on Wednesday, unidentified men barged into the house and shot dead eight members of the same family.

Those killed in the incident are 70-year-old Mir Rehman, his wife Taj Meena Bibi, their 30-year-old daughter Noorzaman Khela, 23-year-old-son Khalilur Rehman, 32-year-old son Ahmad Din, 11-year-old daughter Yasmin Bibi, 18-year-old grandson Mujahid, and 6-year-old granddaughter Khazina Bibi.

The official said the killers managed to escape after the incident. Police later shifted the bodies to District Headquarters Hospital for postmortem and started a search operation in the area. By the time this report was filed, seven suspects had been arrested. Further investigation is under way.

The incident is not one of its kind in the province. On April 26, six members of a family were shot dead and eight others were injured near Gulabad Canal, Charsadda. The family was escorting a relative to Bacha Khan International Airport when the attack took place.

Five people were killed on the spot while nine others were injured. The injured were taken to Lady Reading Hospital where another member succumbed to his wounds.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2014.