QUETTA: Five members of an Afghan refugee family — a mother and her four children — were murdered by some unknown people in Killi Ahmed Shah Nasiran area of Kuchlak on Sunday.

According to police, the attackers chopped off the throat of the mother and her three children by a dagger while the fourth child was strangled.

“It seems the victims were first given some tranquilizer and then their throats were cut off,” a senior police official said, adding that investigation into the incident had been launched.

The police official said that the father of the children, Hikmatullah, an Afghan national, had been taken into custody for interrogation.

He was living in Killi Nasiran along with his wife and four children — two sons and two daughters. He also had a second wife, who was living separately. “The motive behind the tragic incident is not known so far. We are interrogating Hikmatullah,” the police official said.

Eralier, police shifted the bodies from Killi Ahmed Shah Nasiran area to Civil Hospital, Quetta.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2022