Egyptian man arrested after 'slashing throats' of wife and five daughters

Wife and nine-year-old girl die in attack after row over lack of sons

The attack occurred in a village near the Giza pyramids plateau. EPA

Egyptian police have arrested a man accused of slitting the throats of his wife and five daughters before fleeing their home in a village near the Giza pyramids plateau.

The man confessed to attacking his family and said it happened after an argument with his wife, officials told The National.

His wife and one daughter, nine, were killed instantly, while the four other daughters, who are 16, 15, eight and five, suffered serious neck injuries and were in a critical condition in hospital, police said.

The man, a 40-year-old scrap collector, told officers that the argument was because his wife had borne him five daughters and no sons.

He had been released from prison days earlier after serving a sentence for another crime.

He was arrested at a friend’s home in Talbia, a lower-income district in Giza, where he planned to stay before fleeing to his home province of Beni Suef in the south.

The man has been referred to Giza prosecutors and is expected to be tried in the coming weeks, officials said.

The friend was arrested for helping the man to conceal the crime.

Police said the man had an extensive criminal record and had previously been arrested for possessing and using narcotics. Giza police records show that he was in the habit of getting into fights with his wife and daughters, some of whom confirmed this during questioning by police in hospital.

One of his daughters told officers that her father used drugs regularly, which often caused him to start fights with his wife. After attacking them on Tuesday, he tried to set fire to the house but decided to run when it took too long, she said.