RAWALPINDI, Jan 2: Three brothers were shot dead while another was injured critically when their cousins opened fire on them in a small village of Kahuta on Wednesday, police said.

The injured was shifted to hospital where his condition was stated to be critical.

The four brothers, Ali Hassan, 55, Shah Nawaz, 52, Abdul Majeed, 50 and Abdul Hameed, 65, went to their cousins’ house in Natter village to patch up relations, which got frayed after a recent brawl between the women of the two families over use of a path which passes through the green fields owned by the murder accused.

While the two parties were negotiating the issues, the cousins got infuriated.

According to the police, one of the accused went to his room and brought out Kalashnikov and opened fire on the four brothers killing three of them on the spot while injuring the fourth one.

When contacted the superintendent of police (SP) Waheeduz Zaman Khattak he said preliminary investigation suggested that the women of the two families had brawl over the use of the path.

He said at that time, the issue was settled and the two families decided to meet on Wednesday for a patch-up.

The SP said the four brothers went to the house of their cousins for reconciliation but it ended in the tragic deaths of the three brothers.

Kahuta SHO inspector Sardar Zulfiqar said the two families had had successful talks.

He said while they were offering dua, one of the accused exchanged hot words with Mohammad Amin over some issue.

As they got angry on each other, the other accused, who was sitting in the meeting, got up and went into his room and brought a Kalashnikov and opened fire on his four cousins killing three of them on the spot.

He said the alleged killer managed to escape.

However, his brother was arrested by the police during a raid at a house.