SUKKUR: A heavily drunk man went on a killing spree in Jacobabad on Wednesday as he gunned down one of his friends, wounded two others and two passersby before taking his own life when he was cornered by police in a house.

Witnesses said that the incident took place at an autaq (guesthouse) in Bismillah Bagh area where four friends, Riaz Ahmed Marhato, Zafar Ali Mugheri, Sajjad Ali Chandio and Kamran Ali, were chatting after having drunk alcohol.

They entered into a heated debate over a petty issue during which Zafar Mugheri lost his temper and suddenly started firing with a pistol at his friends, killing Riaz Ahmed on the spot and seriously wounding Sajjad Ali and Kamran Ali, they said.

Zafar then rushed out into the street, fired at two passersby, Abdul Nabi Mastoi and Rafiq Ahmed Dayo, and lunged into a nearby house while continuing to fire randomly, said witnesses.

They said that by this time police had arrived and surrounded the house where he was holed up. He tried to escape by firing at police but did not succeed and finally as the siege prolonged Zafar attempted to kill himself in utter frustration but the shot left him critically injured, said police sources.

The sources said that police finally broke open the door and shifted him to Jacobabad Civil Hospital but be died on the way when he was being taken to a Larkana hospital due to critical condition.

The dead bodies of Zafar Mugheri and his friend Riaz Ahmed were handed over to their relatives after post-mortem examination.

The area people said that Mugheri and friends were drug addicts and the incident was a result of their addiction.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2020