SUKKUR: Eight people were killed and four were wounded critically when armed men of Junejo clan attacked their rival Kalhoro clansmen in an ongoing dispute over farmland in riverine area of Madeji in Shikarpur district on Wednesday evening.

Sources in the area told this reporter that people of both the groups traded fire with heavy and sophisticated weapons including heavy machine guns, rocket launchers etc. However, Junejos had reportedly launched the attack first and as a result killed Jan Muhammad alias Janu Kalhoro, Mohammad Ramzan Kalhoro, Waheed Ahmed Kalhoro, Nazeer Ahmed Kalhoro, Liaqat Ali Kalhoro, Ahmed Ali Kalhoro and Barkat Ali Kalhoro.

One of the attackers identified as Abdul Majeed Junejo was killed and Hussain Bux Junejo, Dado Khan Junejo, Waheed Ahmed Junejo and an unidentified Junejo clansman suffered serious wounds when Kalhoros returned the fire, said the sources.

Villagers brought most of the bodies and the injured to Madeji government hospital on tractor trolleys as police failed to reach the area in time.

Police finally arrived after a long delay and took the remaining bodies in custody. They sent the bodies to the Madeji hospital for medico legal formalities and the injured to Sukkur Civil Hospital.

The bodies were later handed back to their heirs.

No case about the deadly clash was registered at any police station of the district while Shikarpur police cordoned off the area to avert further bloodshed.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2023