SUKKUR: Five persons lost their lives in a gun battle between two groups, one belonging to the Narejo community and the other to the Mangnejo community, in Khairpur on Tuesday. The hostility that had started with the alleged kidnapping of a boy two months back had already claimed five lives before the fresh armed clash.

Reports from Gul Hassan Mangnejo village, located within the jurisdiction of the Jatoi police station, suggested that armed men from the rival sides started trading fire on Tuesday after theft of a heavy electric motor belonging to the Narejos, who put the blame on Mangnejos.

The clash left three Narejos — Dilbar, Mumtaz and Ghulam — and two Mangnejos — Ahmed Ali and Kaleem — dead. Several other people sustained bullet wounds and two of them, Ghulamullah and Naeem, were stated to be in a critical condition at a government hospital in Pir Jo Goth.

A strong contingent of police was present nearby but could not enter the battle filed due to heavy firing. Later, the police collected the bodies but heavily armed men from the two community snatched away their respective dead.

A few hours later, police managed to persuade them to bring the bodies to the Pir Jo Goth hospital for a post-mortem examination. The Mangnejos then took away their dead but the Narejos said they would not collect their dead until killers were arrested. They said the Khairpur police had never been serious in maintaining law and order in the area because of which 10 people had been killed and many others wounded in attacks and clashes over the last two months.

According to available information, the two communities had been at odds over the disappearance of a boy, Ali, son of Mahboob Narejo, from Yousuf village two months ago. The affected family believed that he had been kidnapped by the Mangnejos. The matter was reported at the Faiz Mohammad Bindho police station. The dispute led to several attacks and clashes since then and left five persons dead.

Meanwhile, Khairpur SSP Zaffar Iqbal Malik told the media on Tuesday evening that officers and personnel from different police stations had condoned off the entire area to trap all those involved in the armed clash. Pickets had also been raised to bring the situation under control, he said. Several suspects have been arrested and arms, including two Kalashnikov rifles, two shot guns and three pistols, along with a sizable quantity of ammunition, seized from them, according to the police officer.

He claimed that certain members of both the communities were wanted by police in many cases of heinous crime, as well as petty crime like theft and animal robbery.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2021