Seven members of Pakistan family killed in feud

Armed men stormed into the home of a man from a rival family in eastern Pakistan early today and opened fire, killing the man and his wife, mother and four of his children, police said.

Four other children were seriously wounded in the shooting in Madaar, a village in the eastern Punjab province, local police official Hassan Farooq Ghuman said, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported.

Those killed included a man identified as Allah Ditta, 40, his wife, mother, and his two sons and two daughters who were aged between three and 11, he said.

The attack was the result of a feud between the Arain and Mochi families, APP reported, but it was not known what the dispute was about or which family Ditta was from.

Police arrested eight people in connection with the killings and seized munitions and weapons, APP reported.

Feuds between families are common specially in deeply conservative rural areas of Pakistan and many involve disputes over ownership of land. Some feuds last for generations, claiming scores of lives.