PESHAWAR   -   At least nine members of a family were murdered and two others were injured when armed men forced their way into a house in Batkhela tehsil of Malakand district and opened fire on the family in­side. According to Assistant Commissioner Shakil Khan, the dead comprised five women, three men, and a child. He added that the gunmen, command­ed by the main accused Usama, forced their way into Hussain Shah’s home and opened fire on the fam­ily members while they were sleeping early in the morning. As a consequence, three men including Zuhran, Hussain Shah and his son Hazrat Bilal while five women identified as Habibul Haram Bibi, Hus­sain Shah’s wife, and his daughters Rabia Bibi, Hizra Bibi, Hazrat Ruqia bibi, and Saima Bibi, Aizaz’s wife were killed. Two other members of the family were also injured, while a 12-year-old boy and two little girls somehow escaped the carnage unscathed. Af­ter the crime, the assailants escaped. However, AC Shakil Khan said that the chief culprit Usama and two of his accomplices had been apprehended by Malakand Levies men from the Barikot area of Swat district, six hours after the terrible occurrence. He said that the accused and the victims were relatives and that there was a family feud between them. He said that a lady from the victim’s family had difficult ties with her in-laws family and had gone to her par­ents’ house, where she was also slain in the event.