Associated Press
CAIRO: The theft of a few ears of corn was to blame for a massive family feud that killed five people in southern Egypt on Friday, police and the country s official news agency said.
Clashes erupted in Minya province, 220 km south of Cairo, after Wageh Abdel Sayed, a 58-year-old farmer, stole a few pieces of corn from his neighbor, Zein Karrasi, the news agency reported.
Karrasi, 38, spotted Abdel Sayed and opened fire in revenge, killing him instantly, a police official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
In retaliation, Abdel Sayed s family set fire to about four houses belonging to the Karrasi family, the official said.
Relatives of both men opened fire on one another with pistols and machine guns, killing four people and wounding 13, the news agency reported. A woman and a 9-year-old girl were among the dead, it said.
Security forces cordoned off the village of Deir Al-Bersha, where both families lived, arresting dozens of people on both sides of the feud, including Karrasi, the official said.
Revenge killings – known as tar in Arabic – can be passed down for generations in southern Egypt and lock whole villages in fear. In extended families, children are raised with the idea of avenging relatives, and those who refuse to kill to salvage the family honor may face ostracism or worse.
