RAWALPINDI, July 12: A man hacked his father, sister and two minor daughters to death with a butcher's boning knife, and critically wounded his wife, mother and a minor nephew in Islamabad on Monday, police said.

Maqsood Nawaz, 27, was described as "mentally-sick" by his family members who had survived the attack. The alleged killer went straight to the Naseerabad police post, situated near his house, after the incident, and confessed to having committed the crime.

The accused, whose clothes were soaked in blood, asked the police to collect the bodies from his house while turning himself in. Khaliq Nawaz, the father of Maqsood, was a building contractor and had recently moved into his newly-built house at Sadaat colony near Westridge, in the jurisdiction of I-9 police station, along with his entire family over a year ago.

One of the survivors, Faiza Mazhar, the wife of elder brother of the accused, said: "We had been trying to convince Maqsood to go to a doctor since Sunday as he was becoming increasingly agitated. But he refused."

She said on Monday, Maqsood took a butcher's boning knife and attacked his father and mother, and then he pounced upon his sister, Salma, 20, who had come to rescue her parents.

"There was lot of yelling in the house, which caught attention of two-and-a-half-year-old Amina Maqsood and 10-month-old Habiba Maqsood who rushed to stop their father, but he ruthlessly butchered them," Ms Faiza told the police.

She said she tried to stop her brother-in-law, but when she felt that she could be the next victim, she hid in a wash-room. On hearing screams for help, Maqsood's wife, Shumaila, 25, tried to stop her husband, but she was also attacked and sustained critical injuries.

"Chances of her survival are bright, however, she may lose her left eye," a doctor at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) said. Talking to Dawn from hospital bed, Shumaila said Maqsood frequently experienced fits before his marriage.

She said she was married to Maqsood, who was from Swat, some three years ago. His family, she added, believed that he would recover after the marriage, but he did not. She said her husband remained under treatment in mental hospital, Abbotabad, for some time.

"He had never been so agitated in the past, but today (Monday) he became very violent," she added. The accused also tried to kill his 18-month-old nephew, Zahidullah, who suffered critical injuries.

Shortly after Maqsood reached the police post, the SHO Westridge, Malik Irshad, along with Naseerabad police post in charge SI Mohammad Amin arrived on the crime scene and shifted the wounded to the District Headquarters Hospital. Later, the Industrial Area police also arrived when it was decided that the scene of crime fell in their jurisdiction. The injured were then shifted to Pims.