THREE brothers and a cousin were “cut up like cattle” and four other people are missing after Papua New Guinea clansmen launched a payback attack to avenge a murder.
The four mutilated bodies were found at a settlement outside the capital Port Moresby today, police said.
Officers are searching for three women and a child, who were travelling in a ute with the slain men. It is feared they may also have been killed.
Police believe today’s killings were a payback for the murder of another man yesterday.
“This incident was particularly bad,” a police spokesman said.
“Now we are appealing for calm and no more payback.”
Police said the four men, all aged in their mid-20s, were set upon when their ute stopped at a road block at Laloki, outside Port Moresby.
Hundreds of people living in and around the Laloki area have fled their homes, fearing reprisals over the initial murder.
Payback attacks are widespread in PNG, but authorities seek to persuade aggrieved parties to settle matters through police and the court system.
