NAROWAL, Dec 6: With the murder of a union council nazim and his four companions in Lahore on Sunday, the death toll in a nearly three-decade-old political feud between two local groups has risen to 26.

Muhammad Afzal, Gumtala (Shakargarh tehsil) UC nazim and his companions, named in the murder of an MPA, were ambushed by five car riders in a thickly-populated area of the provincial capital.

The bodies were taken to Noor Kot for burial amid tight security on Tuesday.

Police said that 28 years old political enmity between Ch Afzal and Arif Khan groups had claimed 26 lives from the two sides.

The heirs of the five slain staged a protest demonstration in Nor Kot where they reportedly chanted anti-police slogans and demanded immediate arrest of the killers to stop further bloodshed.

Talking to newsmen at Shakargarh, Narowal District Nazim Dr Naimat Ali Javaid and his son Punjab Health Minister Dr Tahir Ali Javaid termed the murder of Muhammad Afzal (Narowal district PML secretary general) a great loss for the ruling party at the local level. The police have registered a case against 12 people of Arif Khan group.