AFP/Quetta

Three women in southwest Pakistan were injured in an acid attack over a family dispute, officials said on Wednesday as police carried out raids to apprehend the suspects.

The attack took place Tuesday night in the Pishin district of the restive province of Baluchistan around 30 miles  (50 kilometres) from the provincial capital Quetta.

Hundreds of acid attacks are recorded every year in Pakistan but are a relatively new phenomenon in Baluchistan, with the handful of cases recorded prior to this latest one linked to Islamist groups rather than so-called 'honour'.

Local administration official Bashir Bazai told AFP: "Three women sustained injuries in an acid attack incident in Killi Huramzai area of district Pishin, (around 31 miles north of Quetta)."

He said the men had thrown the acid from bottles.

Akbar Hussain Durrani, the provincial home secretary of Baluchistan confirmed the incident adding that the motive was a family feud, without elaborating.

"There was a family feud between two groups and one group stormed the house of the rival group Tuesday night and threw acid on the women present there," Durrani told AFP.

He said six women were present at the house during the incident and the acid fell on three of them.

"The attackers had thrown the acid on the lower parts of the women burning their feet and lower parts of leg," he said.

Durrani said the district tribal police had identified the attackers and were carrying out raids to arrest them.

Last Tuesday, two men on a motorcycle sprayed acid using syringes on two teenage girls who were returning from a market in Mastung town 40 kilometres from the provincial capital Quetta.

The day before, four women, aged between 18 to 50, had suffered the same fate in Quetta, in the market area of Sariab. They suffered partial burns.

Both last week's attacks are thought to be linked to rising Islamism in the region, since the victims did not know their assailants and militant groups are becoming increasingly prominent in the area.