PESHAWAR: Eight family members — four women and four children — were killed and two injured when rivals opened fire on them after entering their house in the Badaber police station area here on Tuesday afternoon.

The incident took place in the Balukhel area.

Peshawar SSP (operations) Kashif Zulfiqar told Dawn that both attackers and the firing victims were cousins.

He said that two gunmen sprayed their rivals with submachine gun bullets.

The SSP said that the motive of the killing was not immediately known, so the police were investigating the case from multiple angles.

He said that the attackers went to all the rooms of the house and vandalised them.

“The gunmen destroyed the solar power system installed on the roof and smashed up doors, window panes and cots,” he said, adding that the store on the second floor was also damaged.

Another senior police official told

Dawn that a police team headed by SP (Saddar Circle) Zaman Khan was investigating the case, while police teams had been constituted to search for the attackers.

He said that the police had spoken to the complainants regarding the registration of the FIR.

The official, however, said that the police had yet to learn about the motive of the killings.

The police said that the women among the deceased included Hameeda Begum, Sidra, Noorin Shahzadi and Janaat Bibi, while the children were Anfal, 7, Afnan, 8, Okasha, 7, and Lobaba, 8.

They added that the injured included a woman and a child.

The police said that the complainants had nominated Yar Mohammad, Azizur Rehman, Shamoos, Zulqarnian, Uwais, Ubaidullah, Roohullah, Sibghatullah and Farmanullah in the murder case.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2024