Peshawar:
Unidentified gunmen killed seven members of a family in a pre-dawn attack on Friday in Pakistan's troubled northwest, where killing on personal vendettas is common, police said.
The dead included two brothers, a sister, her nine-year-old son and three cousins, police said. Five other members of the family were wounded and taken for medical treatment at a local hospital.
"Five of the family members died on spot and two in the hospital," Fazal Mohammad, a local police official in the village of Yar Hussain where the attack took place told AFP.
Yar Hussain is some 120 kilometres northeast of Peshawar, the region's main city.
The family said they had no enmity but police suspected the incident was the result of an "internal family dispute".
"We are investigating it but apparently it looks like an incident of internal family dispute," Mohammad said, adding that "The village has no past history of militancy."
Police said the assailants armed with assault rifles opened fire at the 12 members of the family who were travelling in a coach to see off one of the family at Peshawar airport.
"The attackers managed to flee in the dark," said Mohammad Sajjad Khan, a senior police officer in Swabi district which includes Yar Hussain, adding that police had launched a search operation but no one had been arrested yet.
The dead included two brothers, a sister, her nine-year-old son and three cousins, police said. Five other members of the family were wounded and taken for medical treatment at a local hospital.
"Five of the family members died on spot and two in the hospital," Fazal Mohammad, a local police official in the village of Yar Hussain where the attack took place told AFP.
Yar Hussain is some 120 kilometres northeast of Peshawar, the region's main city.
The family said they had no enmity but police suspected the incident was the result of an "internal family dispute".
"We are investigating it but apparently it looks like an incident of internal family dispute," Mohammad said, adding that "The village has no past history of militancy."
Police said the assailants armed with assault rifles opened fire at the 12 members of the family who were travelling in a coach to see off one of the family at Peshawar airport.
"The attackers managed to flee in the dark," said Mohammad Sajjad Khan, a senior police officer in Swabi district which includes Yar Hussain, adding that police had launched a search operation but no one had been arrested yet.
