RAWALPINDI: A relative and his two accomplices massacred five Afghan men on Friday over a feud in the family that had long been settled.

Police said the disgruntled relative Ghulam Rasool was a guest at the victims’ house in the city’s Naseerabad locality and enacted the bloodbath as they sat enjoying a campfire after lunch.

All three assailants then fled the scene on their motorcycles.

“Preliminary investigation suggested that the slain men were involved in a triple murder case in the family. But the feud had been settled to the extent that inter-marriages took place between the rivals,” SSP Operations Mian Maqbool said.

However, despite the reconciliation, Ghulam Rasool nursed a grudge against Hazrat Ali Khan, 25, his brother Sher Ali, 20, and their cousins Sadar Azam, 20, Zarghoon Khan, 25, and Moin Khan, 40.

They treated him, and the two men accompanying him, as guests when they arrived at their house on Friday morning.

“After lunch with the family, they sat outside around burning logs to keep themselves warm on the chilly day, when the accomplices opened fire on the hosts,” said SP Maqbool.

Four died on the spot and the fifth, Moin Khan, in the hospital.

Ghulam Rasool also took part in the shooting, using his pistol.

Documents issued by UNHCR showed the victims had arrived from Afghanistan as refugees and they were to stay here till June 2014.

Check posts at exit and entry points of the city were alerted to be on the lookout for them.