In a shocking turn of events, six members of a family -- three of them women -- have been gunned down in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh over the alleged murders of the family members of the attackers.
The incident in the state's Morena area that is also linked to a longstanding land dispute left two other men hospitalised with severe injuries as well.
Rifle-wielding men carried out the broad daylight shooting as revenge for killing their family members a decade ago, police said.
Chilling video footage of the incident showed several men carrying rifles shooting at an unarmed group of people after the latter were thrashed with wooden sticks.
In a bid to stop them, some women from the family -- as seen in the video -- were throwing wooden sticks at the assailants. However, the women's efforts went in vain.
The incident took place around 10 am on Friday at Lepa village, around 55-km off the district headquarters, between the families of Dheer Singh Tomar and Gajendra Singh Tomar, according to NDTV.
The two families had clashed over dumping waste in 2013. Two people from Dheer Singh Tomar's family were killed then, and Gajendra Singh Tomar's family fled the village.
The two families had reconciled outside a court, and the latter's family had returned to the village on Friday.
“The family members had spent 4-5 years in jail before returning to their home on Friday,” a senior police official told The Indian Express.
Dheer Singh Tomar's family allegedly launched a pre-meditated attack on them with sticks and opened fire.
Gajendra Singh Tomar and his two sons were among the six who were murdered.
Asked about the motive behind the killings, police said that the two groups had an old enmity.
"The victims' relatives have been accused of murdering the family members of today's alleged killers," an official said.
Police identified eight people who were allegedly involved in the murders and a case was being registered against them.
Two of them were later arrested and put under interrogation.