SUKKUR/SHIKARPUR, May 31: Three men of a family, Gul Mohammad Maher, Irshad Ali and Abdul Rashid, were shot dead near Shikarpur on Friday whereas another man from their rival group, Amir Bux was killed in retaliation in Soomar village, 16KM from here.

The killings were the outcome of a 20-year old dispute between the two groups of the Maher clan which had already claimed 20 lives.

Gul Mohammad, a landlord from Soomar Goth and local PPP leader, with his cousin Irshad and nephew Abdur Rashid, was coming in a rented car from Larkana to his village.

When their car reached near Shikarpur, five occupants of another car, who were reportedly chasing them from Larkana, opened fire on them.

As a result the car of Gul Mohammad, which was driven by the driver Ali Nawaz, got a flat tyre and overturned.

The driver escaped while the three passengers were killed in the firing.

When the information of the killings reached Soomar village, the enraged relatives of the deceased launched an armed attack on their rivals in which Amir Bux was killed.

Tension was running very high in the area as police took up positions to stop further bloodshed.

Reports said some one month back, two men from Gul Mohammad’s rival group, Ghousal and Bachal, had been killed and their relatives had alleged that Gul and his relatives were involved in the murder.

Gul Mohammad had received a protective bail from the Larkana bench of the Sindh High Court and he was returning from the court after the confirmation of his bail when he was killed with two relatives.