BANNU: Four people, including a newly-married woman, her brother and a cousin, were killed and two others injured when they attacked the house of the woman’s in-laws on the pretext of ‘honour’ in Hathikhel area of Bannu on Thursday.

According to police, the relatives of the woman, Zainab Bibi, who were angered by her marriage to one Shah Zeb, went to her in-laws house and attacked her. She was killed on the spot.

The attackers were trying to escape, but they were blocked by Shah Zeb’s relatives and the area people.

In the ensuing fire exchange, the woman’s brother Abdul Hafeez, cousin Abdul Haseeb and their accomplice Mohsin Jan were killed, while two other cousins, including Waheedur Rehman and Latifur Rehman, were injured.

Local people said that the woman had married Shah Zeb out of her free will. She was picked up by police after her family accused her of eloping with Shah Zeb.

The police had produced her in the local court on May 22 where she had recorded her statement.

She had told the court that she had married Shah Zeb of her own free will. The police reached the area soon after the incident and shifted the dead and the injured to the DHQ hospital.

The police have registered the case.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2019