Relatives involved in murder of family in Behsud

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Local officials on Tuesday said relatives were involved in the murder of eight family members in Behsud district of eastern Nangarhar province.

The eight members of a family were found mysteriously dead in their house in Mirzad Qala area of the district on Monday after three men visited the family on Sunday night as their guests.

The dead included Yousaf, his mother, wife and five children as young as two months and five years old.

Nangarahr Governor Salim Khan Kunduzi said the victims had been poisoned before they were murdered, citing initial investigation.

“We have started investigation into the incident and the detective forces are looking for the real motive behind the murders. Initial investigation shows relatives of the family, who visited them as guests, had killed them.”

The head of the family, Yousaf, was said to be from southeastern Paktia province and had been living with his family in Behsud district over the past five years.

The governor said: “Yousaf was originally from Paktia, his mother was from Kunar province and his wife from Kashkunbad area of Behsud district.”

Meanwhile, deputy Nangarhar police chief Col. Amir Khan Lewal told Pajhwok Afghan News the incident was under investigation, but initial investigation showed a business issue had provoked the murders. He said Yousaf was a trader, but did not explain the nature of his business.

The governor’s spokesman, Attaullah Khogyani, told Pajhwok Afghan News that residents had informed the police that Yousaf’s house had been locked for some days and when police entered the house, they found slain persons.

He said two persons had been arrested in connection with the killings and they were currently under investigation.

A government official told Pajhwok Afghan News that two persons from Yousaf’s in-laws family were involved in the incident and police were trying to arrest them.

A member of Yousaf’s in-laws family, Najibullah, told reporters that he did not know how the murders took place and who were involved.

A resident of the area and head of the Behsud development council, Malak Nimatullah Halimi, told Pajhwok Afghan News the government should arrest the perpetrators at the earliest.

“It was a huge atrocity. The killers did not spare a two-month-old child who was among five children mercilessly killed,” he said.

Civil society and social media activists in Nangarhar have asked the government to thoroughly investigate the killings.

“Jowand” civil society group leader Ikramullah Ikram said they were deeply saddened by the incident. “If it was due to enmity, no one kills a two-month-old child and a five-year-old girl in enmity.” He appealed to the government to bring to justice the killers.

Nangarhar provincial council secretary Zabihullah Zamarai told Pajhwok Afghan News the government should intensify efforts at preventing such incidents. He asked the provincial administration to arrest the killers and give them harsher punishment.

ma/myn

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