A man in Swabi’s Yar Hussain district shot himself dead after allegedly killing four of his minor children early on Thursday morning, officials said.

Yar Hussain Station House Officer (SHO) Abdul Wali told Dawn.com that police were informed about the bodies by locals.

“The father received a bullet wound to the head, while the Rescue 1122 team found the bodies at the deceased man’s house and shifted them to the tehsil headquarters hospital,” SHO Wali said.

The deceased were identified as Saiful Islam, 42; Ziaul Islam, 12; Abdur Rehman, 10; Sana Umar, 8; and a two-year-old girl whose name could not be ascertained immediately.

SHO Wali said the incident seemed to be a domestic issue since the man’s wife had gone to her parent’s home.

He said police had lodged a first information report (FIR) and begun further interrogation into the case.

According to a jirga member Awwal Sher Khan, the man sent his two-year-old daughter to the wife two days earlier after his efforts to bring back his wife had failed.

But the wife returned the child, which culminated in reaching his frustration into the incident, he added.

Similar incidents have occurred in the recent past, with a man in Bhawalnagar allegedly killing himself last December after shooting his wife and daughter dead over an issue related to ‘honour.’

In May 2024, a man killed his two wives and four children and then ended his life in the Gulshan-i-Madina locality of Faisalabad.