In a case of suspected honour killing, a man axed his wife and three children to death in Peshawar, Pakistan media reported on Friday. While the motive behind the brutal murders is not clear, the police said that it was likely a case of honour killing, according to The Express Tribune.
The accused's mother-in-law reportedly filed a complaint with the police, in which she claimed that the man's father incited him to kill his family. The police found the bodies of the woman and the children in a house in Peshawar's Islamabad Mohallah locality on Friday, according to Dawn News.
The youngest child was only two-years-old.
Other reports said that a domestic dispute led to the crime. The accused is on the run. His relatives had reportedly killed his wife's sister a few years ago and are still in jail.
The killings came to light just a day after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sahrif vowed to eradicate honour killing in the country.
In a statement congratulating Pakistani director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy for winning an Oscar nomination for her documentary on the subject, Sharif said that his government was committed to "rid Pakistan of this evil by bringing in appropriate legislation", AFP reported.
In 2014, the killing of a young pregnant woman, who was stoned to death by her family outside a courthouse in Pakistan, had sparked anger over the issue of honour killing, which reportedly claims the lives of 1,000 women in the country each year.
