QUETTA: Eight people were killed and two others injured in a clash between members of two tribes in Barabcha area, close to Pak-Afghan border and some 80km west of Dalbandin town of Chagai district, on Sunday.

Among the dead included six Afghan refugees belonging to Noorzai tribe of Afghanistan.

Official sources said that the clash was the outcome of a dispute between Muhammad Hasni and Noorzai tribes over the ownership of a piece of land in the area.

“The two tribes had a dispute over the ownership of a piece of land in Barabcha, a locality near the Pak-Afghan border,” Dalbandin Assistant Commissioner Habibullah Musakhail said.

He said elders of the two tribes exchanged hot words during a jirga convened a day earlier for resolving the issue.

Sources said that during the jirga armed Afghan refugees belonging to Noorzai tribe opened fire on the people of Muhammad Hasni tribe, leaving two of them injured.

On Sunday morning, armed men of the two tribes attacked each other’s positions with sophisticated weapons, the sources said, adding that the exchange of fire continued for about an hour.

“Six Afghan refugees of Noorzai tribe and two tribesmen of Muhammad Hasni tribe were killed in the firing,” confirmed Chagai Deputy Commissioner Imran Ibrahim.

“Heavy weapons were used by both sides during the exchange of fire,” a Levies official said.

He said after receiving information about the clash Levies and Frontier Corps personnel cordoned off the area. They shifted the bodies and the injured to the district hospital in Dalbadin.

“We have received eight bodies and two injured,” officials of the King Fahad hospital said, adding that the deceased had received multiple bullet wounds.

Though the opposing tribesmen stopped attacking each other’s opposition after the security personnel had cordoned off the area, they were present in their bunkers.

The Chagai deputy commissioner said that efforts were under way to get the bunkers vacated by the armed tribesmen.

The deceased were identified as Haji Abdul Baqi Mohammad Hasni, his son Abdul Wali, Muhammad Nabi Noorzai, Haji Toor Noorzai, Abdul Bari Noorzai, Sardar Sher Agha, Mohammad Ashraf and Obaidullah Noorzai.

The sources said the situation in the area was now under control and heavy contingents of Levies and FC personnel had been deployed in troubled parts of Barabcha to avert further clashes.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2018