GUJRAT, June 9: Eight people were killed while five others seriously injured on Thursday by their rivals over an old enmity outside the sessions court on the GT Road in Kharian. The incident took place in close proximity of the Kharian Sadar police station, the DSP office and the Rescue 15. The slain and the injured were members of the Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas group of Warriachanwala while the accused party belonged to the Mian Khan and Mehdi Khan groups of Dheenda.

Chaudhry Abbas, his son Haider Abbas, nephew Chaudhry Babar, a nazim of Warriachanwala union council and other associates came to the sessions court for the hearing of a case. As they stepped out of their vehicles, their rivals opened firing on them, killing Haider Abbas, Muhammad Aslam, Madad Ali, Chaudhry Ilyas, Gul Muhammad, Bati, Asghar and Salman instantly and injuring five others seriously. The injured — Afzal, Rukhsar, Javed, Nasir and Noor Zaman — were taken to the Kharian THQ hospital in critical condition.

The attackers managed to escape from the scene as nobody from a nearby Rescue 15 office and Kharian Sadar police station ventured to chase them.

Eyewitnesses claimed that over a dozen policemen of different police stations of Kharian circle were also present inside the court but they preferred to save their lives.

The rivalry between the two groups had taken the lives of over 100 people since 1962. The police handed over the bodies to their heirs after autopsy.

Kharian Sadar police have registered a case against 25 accused, including Mehdi Khan and Mian Khan.

BODIES FOUND: Kharian Sadar police on Thursday recovered bullet-riddled bodies of two unidentified men from a deserted place in Borianwali village.