Family axed in honour killing over marriage 28 years previously

A 60-year-old woman, her husband and their three children were axed to death in central Pakistan by the woman’s family in revenge for the couple marrying 28 years ago, police said.

The dead children were two girls and a son. A third daughter, 18, was wounded in Tuesday night’s attack in the central Pakistani city of Jhang, police said.

Police said the girl identified the killers as members of her mother’s family.

Muhammad Aslam, a policeman at Athara Hazari Police Station in Jhang, said the girl told police the attack was revenge for her mother’s remarriage to her beloved cousin 28 years ago.

Four members of Fatima’s family had arrived from the capital of Islamabad armed with daggers and axes, the girl told police.

Police said it was not clear why the woman’s family had waited 28 years to attack her.

Honour killings, where a woman is killed for a perceived social transgression, happen several times a day in Pakistan. Cases are rarely investigated or prosecuted.