JHANG, March 29: As many as 35 people suffering from some ‘mysterious’ abdominal ailment have been admitted to the DHQ hospital during the last three days where senior doctors are trying to diagnose the disease through various tests and other methods.

The disease first surfaced two months ago in Peero and Mari Khokran villages of Jhang tehsil, when some people complained of severe pain in their abdomen. The patients started visiting doctors in Sargodha, Shah Nikdar, Sahiwal and Jhang. Some doctors diagnosed the disease as appendicitis and conducted surgery on many patients.

According to a notable of the Peero village, some 30 people have been operated upon during the last two months. Two patients, Azra Bibi and Latafat Ali, expired owing to the severeness of the pain. According to a doctor attending these people at the Jhang DHQ hospital, the patient experiences severe pain for three to four days, then the pain subsides. He ruled out the possibility of appendicitis or food poisoning to be the cause of the mysterious pain. He said this was a viral disease, which did not need surgery.

He told Dawn that the patients admitted to the DHQ hospital were being given conservative treatment and were improving. The doctor suspected the presence of some poisonous contents in the subsoil water of the area which was possibly the cause of the pain.

THREE KILLED: Three people, including a girl, were killed and one seriously injured in three incidents in Jhang and Chiniot tehsils during the last 24 hours.

In Tarkhana locality, Chiniot, three dacoits were fleeing after looting Rs9,600 from the house of Zafar Abbas Khokhar on Monday night when some villagers started chasing them. The outlaws opened fire on them killing Khizar Hayat and injuring Ilyas.

In the second incident, ‘M’ was stabbed to death by her brother, Mansha, on suspicion of having illicit relations with ‘A’ in Bhowana Town, some 45km from here on Monday night.

At 18-Hazari Adda, Jhang tehsil, watchmen Akhtari Husain was shot dead by Qurban Ali of Lahore when the former tried to prevent the latter from eloping with ‘N’ of the area.