Egypt feud ends in carnage

The family was ambushed on the way to Gerga

Gunmen ambushed and killed 22 members of a rival family on Saturday in the Upper Egyptian province of Sohag, according to police officials.

The victims - members of the Hashashba family - were stopped on the road linking the small town of Gerga to the provincial capital Sohag, 400 kilometres (250 miles) south of Cairo.

The Hashashbas were on their way to a court hearing in Gerga when members of the Abdul Haleems family opened fire.

All 22 victims died inside their vehicles, police said. Three other people were wounded.

The gunmen reportedly fled into a corn field and remain at large.

The slain Hashashbas had been planning to attend the trial of two family members who have been accused of killing one of the Abdul Haleems last April.

Saturday's attack was apparently designed to avenge his death.

Family feud

Helmi Ahmed Hashab and Ali Mahmud Hashab, members of the Hashashba family, are accused of killing Hamman Abdul Haleem in revenge for the murder of a relative 11 years ago.

The Hashashbas and the Abdul Haleems live in the village of Beit Allam, near Sohag.

It has now been sealed off and extra security forces are being deployed in an attempt to prevent further violence between the families.

The gunmen fled into a corn field

Blood feuds and honour killings are common in parts of the Arab world.

This is especially true in Upper Egypt, a rural area of the country where societies adhere to strict rules that have been followed for centuries.

Saturday's clash was the deadliest outbreak of clan violence since 1995, when 24 people were killed in a clash between rival families outside a mosque in Minya province.

In March 1998, a man involved in the 1995 vendetta, killed seven people and injured nine others from the rival family.

Past feuds have also been linked to Islamic fundamentalist groups.