BAHAWALPUR: Six people were killed in three incidents in Bahawalpur on Thursday.

Police said three people were shot dead allegedly by their rivals in a panchayat or village council at village 19/BC in Yazman, 40 kilometres from Bahawalpur.

During the punchayat, Muhammad Asghar, Muhammad Ashiq, Usama and Tahir allegedly opened fire and shot dead Muhammad Abbas, Rab Nawaz and Allah Baksh while Asghar, an alleged attacker, also sustained injuries.

Police arrested Asghar, Usama and Ashiq and shifted the bodies for postmortem to the Yazman Tehsil Headquarters Hospital.

In Hasilpur, Zafar Iqbal allegedly murdered his brother Muhammad Boota over a land dispute. Hasilpur Sadar police registered a murder case.

Also, in a truck-wagon collision on Samssatta Road late on Wednesday, Khalil (wagon driver) and passenger Fayyaz were killed. Saddar police registered a case against the truck-driver and arrested him.

FIRE: A fire erupted in the auditorium at Baghdadul Jadid campus of the Islamia University, Bahawalpur (IUB), On Thursday.

The fire broke out after midday. Rescue 1122 firefighting vehicles rushed to the scene. District Emergency Officer Dr Asif Channar said they had to break auditorium doors to control the fire.

IUB Public Relation Officer Shehzad Khalid alleged the Rescue 1122 squad delayed the operation to extinguish the fire for about half an hour. After hours’ struggle, the fire was controlled and as the auditorium was packed with smoke, losses could not be assessed.

Mr Khalil was not aware of the cause of fire. No loss of life was reported.

In a press release, the IUB said they had formed a committee to probe the causes of the fire and assess the extent of losses.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2015

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