Attackers throw acid at three Pakistani female students

A group of men on motorcycles hurled acid at three female students when they were on their way to university in the city of Gujrat, say Pakistani police.

Officer Umair Hayat says one of the three men was arrested after Thursday’s attack, which occurred near a bus stop in the Dinga neighbourhood.

Hayat says one suffered burns to her face while the other two have burns on their arms. Two of the victims are sisters, the third is their friend, reports the Associated Press.

Hayat says the assault apparently followed a family dispute over the refusal of a marriage proposal and that the sisters’ uncle was among the attackers, who had come from Islamabad to take revenge on one of the sisters.

Matrimonial refusals within families often trigger feuds in conservative Pakistan.