SUKKUR, Dec 28: Six milkmen were kidnapped and four of them were killed later in the Khuhra area of Khairpur district on Monday evening.

Dur Muhammad, Khursheed, Latif Dino, Punhal, Rasool Bux and Qarar Hussain, all Ujjan by caste, were returning to Khuhra after supplying milk to a company and wholesale dealers. When they reached near Village Mochi, a group of armed men with masks on their faces, kidnapped them on gunpoint, kicked and pushed them to an unknown place. Gunmen showered bullets on them when they resisted.

As a result of firing Dur Muhammad, Khursheed, Latif Dino and Punhial Ujjan died on the spot. Rasool Bux Ujjan and Karar Hussain Ujjan, however, managed to escape.

A large number of people, along with policemen, reached at the site of the incident and shouted slogans against police and the district administration for their failure to maintain law and order. They even did not allow the police to shift the bodies and sought arrest of assailants.

In the meantime, high officials of Khairpur police, along with a heavy contingent of police from Gambat, Baharo, and Tando Masti reached at the site, negotiated with the protesters and assured them that the culprits would be arrested soon. They dispersed after the assurance and the bodies were later handed over to the relatives for burial.

In another incident, two men were killed in the Tando Masti Khan area of Khairpur.

A dispute between two groups of people belonging to Chandio and Mari communities resulted into a deadly clash on Monday night as a result of which two people, including a Rangers jawan died.

According to sources, three masked motorcyclists, believed to be Maris, opened indiscriminate fire at Tando Masti railway crossing where Hakim Chandio,40, died.

When the news reached his hometown, his relatives shot dead a Rangers sepoy identified as Piyaral Mari, 35. It generated panic and harassment in Tando Masti Khan due to which all bazaars were immediately closed.

Meanwhile, the area police was trying to set up pickets in the affected areas. The dispute is said to be related to a free will marriage of a girl and kidnapping of a woman in retaliation.