Armed men kill 11 in ambush blamed on decades-old killer

Peshawar, Pakistan — Eleven people, including a prominent local politician in northwestern Pakistan, have been killed by gunmen on Tuesday, police said Tuesday. Family feuds are common in Pakistan, but can be protracted and violent, especially in the mountainous northwest regions where communities adhere to traditional tribal codes of honor.

Police said 42-year-old Atif Munsif Khan, leader of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial council, was killed Monday night in the town of Havelian, 20 miles north of Islamabad.

A district police official, Omar Tufayl, told AFP that “up to five people fired from both sides” in a vehicle carrying 10 people, including Khan, his bodyguards and police escorts, and “put everyone into it.” I killed him on the spot,” he said.

“As a result, the vehicle caught fire and everyone on board was burned alive and the charred bodies are now unrecognizable,” he said.

Tufayl said the Khan family had complained to the police that “the assassination was the rival’s fault” and that it was “almost 50 years old” and took the lives of Khan’s father and grandfather.

“So far, dozens of people have been killed from both sides as a result of this family feud,” he added.

Another senior local police officer, Sajid Tanori, confirmed the incident and denied the involvement of extremist groups such as the Pakistani Taliban, which have long thrived in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Khan is a member of the Pakistan Telik-e-Insaf (PTI) Party, Former Prime Minister Imran Khanalthough men did not matter.