HYDERABAD:
The vicious tribal and communal animosities claimed six more lives on Monday besides leaving half a dozen men and women injured. The incidents occurred in Rustam, Shikarpur and Sujawal Junejo, Kambar-Shahdadkot.
Two groups of the Mahar caste reportedly exchanged fire in the riverbed village of Aamil in Rustam. Rahib, Sarwar and Aitbar, all Mahar by caste, died during the firing, while two men and four women sustained gunshot injuries.
Aitbar belonged to the Ghaus Bux Gadani Mahar group while Rahib and Kalu were from the Kalu Mahar group. Locals told the police that due to firing between the two sides, the dead bodies kept lying on the ground for two to three hours. The police later sent contingents to stop the clash and to shift the dead bodies to Ghulam Shah taluka hospital.
The police also remained present during Namaz-e-Janaza and burial to prevent recurrence of the bloodshed. However, no suspect was arrested nor could police register an FIR by the evening. The injured were shifted to Sukkur.
Separately, a fight between two groups of the Jatoi caste in Sujawal Junejo left Hakim Jatoi and two passers-by, Zameer Tunio and 50-year-old Manzoor Korai, dead. Kambar-Shahdadkot police said that the slain men were sitting in their guest house when armed men on motorbikes sprayed bullets from automatic rifles on them.
Saeed Jatoi was seriously injured in the assault. The attackers made their escape good after the killings. The crime scene is located near the village Ghulam Rasool Korai along the motorway. The bodies were shifted to Civil Hospital Meeru Khan for postmortem. The incident’s FIR could not be registered by the evening.
Meanwhile, Shikarpur police claimed to have killed a suspected bandit and injured two others in an encounter on Jaganh Link Road in the limits of New Faujdari police station. The police identified the slain suspect as Khanu Sundrani. The injured suspects escaped from the spot. There are also reports that Khanu was shot by bullets allegedly fired by his own accomplices.
