Four people from two different groups were killed while two others were injured in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mardan district over a personal dispute, police said on Thursday.

Mardan police spokesperson Muhammad Faheem Khan told Dawn.com, “There was a clash between two groups over a personal dispute, resulting in the killing of four people — three from one group and one from the other group — while two people sustained injuries.”

“The motive behind the clash was a personal dispute between them,” he added.

One of the injured filed a first information report (FIR) at the Garhi Kapura police station on Wednesday night.

According to the FIR, seen by Dawn.com, the complainant said that the incident occurred around 10pm when he was returning home with his brothers and cousins, saying that they were attacked by armed assailants who were already present there.

The FIR was registered under Sections 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 302 (intentional murder) and 324 (attempted mu­r­der) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

“Five armed men opened fire on us, resulting in the instant death of three people, while my cousin and I got injured,” the complainant wrote in the FIR.

A relative of the deceased from the second group also filed a police case at the Garhi Kapura police station under Sections 302 (intentional murder), 324 (attempted mu­r­der) and 34 (common intention) of the PPC.

Police spokesperson Faheem added that the dead bodies and the injured were taken to the Bala Garhi Hospital for autopsy and medical assistance. “An FIR had been lodged and raids are being conducted to arrest the suspects,” he added.

In May, six people, including three women, lost their lives in an exchange of fire over a family feud in the Khatko Pul area of Peshawar.

A clash between two parties over a land dispute in Battagram district killed four people and injured five others in April.