HYDERABAD, Jan 10: Five Rahu tribesmen were kidnapped from the farm of Mushtaq Ahmed Rahu, adviser to the Sindh chief minister, early on Tuesday morning and later three of them were gunned down in the jurisdiction of New Saeedabad police station in Matiari district, police said.

Reports reaching here said that around one dozen persons, believed to be Jamali tribesmen, struck at the farm of the adviser and kidnapped five persons, belonging to the Rahu tribe.

The hostages included Azizullah Rahu, his son Sanaullah Rahu and Dost Ali, Ghulam Qadir Brohi and Bhai Khan Brohi.

The New Saeedabad police claimed that the assailants, clad in police uniform, arrived at the farm in the Aval Chahar village in two separate vehicles and took the five persons along with them and later three of them Azizullah Rahu, Sanaullah Rahu and Dost Ali were killed some seven kilometres away from the village in Bakhar Jamali area. The Brohis were, however, let-off.

The incident is said to be a targeted killing in the wake of murder of two persons, Munir Ahmed and Mohammad Nawaz Jamali who were killed in New Saeedabad town in April 2005.

The dispute was believed to be related to the marriages of women.

The assailants have avenged the killings of their fellow clansmen, police added.