2 killed as argument over cookies escalates

Associated Press
Aug. 8, 2003 07:00 AM


PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A fight over a box of cookies killed two women and injured seven others in a remote area of northwestern Pakistan, police said Friday.

The fight broke out Thursday in the small village of Bafa Maira, 160 miles north of Peshawar after a teenage boy snatched a box of cookies from a young girl, said police officer Fiaz Khan, who did not know their exact ages.

The girl ran home crying and complained to her older brother, who went out to fight the boy. The boy later returned armed and accompanied by two friends who stormed into the girl's house and opened fire, killing the girl's mother and grandmother.

Seven other relatives were injured and taken to a hospital, where one woman was in serious condition, Khan said.

Police are searching for the boy and his friends. The three have been charged with murder, Khan said.

"There was no previous history of feuds between the families, it was just a spur of the moment attack," Khan said.

Disputes in remote parts of Pakistan often pull in families on both sides, and can result in years of feuding.