December 12, 2006	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 20, 1427

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SHIKARPUR, Dec 11: Police took hold of around 30 suspects, 20 buffalos and a truck on Monday after a search operation jointly conducted by Shikarpur and railway police in ten villages of Lakhi Ghulam Shah taluka to arrest people allegedly involved in the bloodied clashes between Mahars and Jatois.

The suspects belong to Mahar, Jatoi, Khoso, Kharo, Shar and a number of other tribes.

Reports said that when police contingent made up of police from Garhi Yasin, Shikarpur, Lakhi and Khanpur talukas and railway tried to enter Habibkot village they were stopped by a large crowd of stone-throwing schoolboys.

The operation was prompted by an incident in which a group of Mahars opened fire with automatic weapons on Rajab Tarat Jatoi village while travelling in a train on Sunday killing a man and injuring a woman and a minor boy.

Our Larkana correspondent adds: Police arrested 12 alleged outlaws including a dismissed policeman and a notorious dacoit Siddik alias Nang Kaleri carrying Rs0.7 million head money and torched six houses in Shahkhani Jatoi village during an anti-dacoits operation in the district’s kutcha area on Monday.

Police torched the bushes near the suspected hideouts and the fire engulfed six kutcha houses within moments forcing the inmates to rush out carrying the holy Quran aloft, sources said, adding that they told the police that they were innocent.

Police claimed that they acted on a tip-off that the kidnappers had hidden seven hostages in the houses. They cordoned off the suspected houses and torched the bushes near them, police sources added.

Police claimed to find three spent rockets, a G-3 rifle, two Kalashnikovs and large number of bullets in the area. Zulfikar Jatoi (a dismissed policeman) Mukhtiar, Nadir Ali, Mohammed Mrich, Rajab Ali, Siddik alias Nang Kaleri and others were arrested, sources claimed.