He was already wanted for the deaths of his own parents over a marriage-proposal dispute months earlier. Then, on Sunday, the man resurfaced in a northwestern village in Pakistan, where he killed his former fiancée and nine others, authorities said.
The suspected killer, identified as Gal Ahmed Said by police in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Charsadda district, carried out the pre-dawn attack in the home of his uncle, who had further delayed the marriage, police .
“He stormed the house and killed all ten family members while they were asleep,” Charsadda police chief Shafiullah Khan .
Said, who fled following the massacre, had wanted to marry his 24-year-old cousin, Naveeda, who was among the dead. Also killed were Said’s uncle, Jamal, an aunt, four male cousins and three female cousins. There were two children among the dead, according to .
The root of the dispute reportedly began months ago. Said’s father wanted the marriage to wait until after the family had money to build a new room to accommodate the couple, the Times reported. Police told AFP that Said’s father turned down a dowry settlement.
Authorities believe Said, who is in his 20s, shot and killed his own parents and two other relatives in November; one of the relatives was his brother, .
“There was a dispute over a marriage proposal,” Khan . “Mr. Said could not wait and opened fire on his family.”
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Said has been wanted since. Relatives that the previous murders also led to the uncle’s refusal to allow his daughter to marry Said.
“The uncle was being very indecisive about the wedding which infuriated Gul Ahmad,” police officer Mohammad Jamil .
Neighbors took the bodies to a district hospital; officials told the Times that the victims had been shot in their heads and faces. An AK-47 assault rifle was used in the attack in the conservative, mountainous region of the country, AFP reported.
Police told AFP they had raided suspected hideouts and were tightening security in a neighboring region.
Said may have had help, , and he and his possible accomplices could have fled to a Pashtun tribal area along the Afghan border.
“We cannot follow anyone there since it is beyond our jurisdiction, and our security would be threatened,” Jamil told Reuters.
Rejected marriage proposals periodically lead to violence in Pakistan. Last July, a man in the Punjab province after her family rejected his marriage proposal. The previous year, a Pakistani actress suffered an acid attack over what her brother .
, about 1,000 Pakistani women die every year in what are described as honor killings; but the actual figure is likely much higher as they only track deaths that have been reported by the media.
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