LAHORE  -  A 50-year-old woman and her daughter were stabbed to death by a relative in Sabzazar on Friday evening, police said. Another two girls were also wounded in the knife-attack and shifted to hospital with multiple injuries, rescue workers said.

Initial police investigations suggest the killer attacked the mother and her daughters when they rejected his marriage proposal. The attacker fled instantly. The double-murder incident took place at a house located near Tokaywali Pulli in the Sabzazar police precincts. The killings of two women in Sabzazar housing scheme come just one day after a man shot dead his two wives over domestic dispute in Lahore’s Kahna neighbourhood.

Police official Rashid Hayat told The Nation that a close relative attacked and repeatedly stabbed the woman and her daughters with a knife. The police recovered the knife from the crime scene, he said. A child who witnessed the knife attack at home told the police that Ahmad, a relative of the victims, stabbed the woman and her daughters.

The deceased women were identified by police as Naureen Bibi, 50, and her daughter Anam Bibi, 22. Another two girls Ambreen and Iram also received serious injuries in the knife attack and they were shifted to Jinnah Hospital on an ambulance.  According to the victim family, Ahmad had proposed Ambreen but they had rejected his marriage proposal a few days ago. Ahmad entered the house late Friday and attacked his relatives in revenge. The killer managed to escape from the scene.

Police investigators, forensic experts, and officials of the crime scene unit were on the spot till filing of this report. The police shifted the bodies to the morgue for autopsy.

SP Investigation (Saddar division) Rashid Hayat said that the police were conducting raids to arrest the killer. However, no arrest was made till late Friday night.  In Lahore, at least four women have been killed by their relatives during the last 24 hours. On Thursday, a man shot dead his two wives at a house in Village Satu Katla.

Bushra Bibi, 42, and Nasrin Bibi, 44, were killed by their husband Riasat alias Malik Jagga as they clashed over some domestic dispute. A police investigator said both the victims received multiple bullet wounds and died on the spot.