LAHORE: A family of four in Multan district's Shujabad suffered minor injuries in an acid attack on Saturday night.

Mumtaz Mai and her three children were attacked by an unknown assailant in the Chak Sardarpur area while they were sleeping, Multan City Police Officer (CPO) Muhammad Azhar Akram told Dawn on Sunday. The four were admitted to the burn unit at Nishtar Hospital with minor injuries.

The assailant made his way into the house at night, police said, and threw acid on Mumtaz Mai and her teenage daughter. Two other children were also burned, Akram said. The assailant carried a container of diluted acid, the police said.

In her initial statement, Mai alleged the assailant was her brother-in-law, but police are investigating another individual in connection with the attack ─ Mai's nephew, who wanted to marry her daughter but was refused as she is a minor, the CPO said.

The nephew had allegedly threatened the family after his proposal was rejected, he said, adding that the police is trying to arrest him.

Multan City Police Officer (CPO) Azhar Akram told Dawn that the suspect Gulfam of Dunyapur, allegedly involved in acid attack, had been arrested.

Akram said the suspect confessed to his crime and said “he was annoyed with his maternal aunt for turning down his marriage proposal for her daughter”.

The senior police official further said that police also recovered the motorcycle battery which was used to throw acid on the mother and her three children who suffered minor burn injuries.

He said the suspect reached the house of his maternal aunt in Shujabad on motorcycle and pulled out battery from his bike and poured acid from it in a jug before throwing it on the victims.

A First-Information Report was registered at Raja Ram police station under sections 324 of the Pakistan Penal Code and 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.