MARDAN: Four persons, including three brothers, were killed and two others sustained serious injuries when rival groups exchanged fire in Qari Abad Qasim Toru Meera area over a land dispute here on Saturday, the police and rescue sources said.

Soon after getting information about the incident, the personnel of Rescue 1122 rushed to the spot and took the bodies and the injured to Mardan Medical Complex Hospital for medico-legal procedure.

Three brothers, identified as Zahir Shah, 58, Jamal Shah, 45, and Mirza Khan, 40, belonged to one group. Khaista, their relative, received injuries.

Hamayoon and Sabzali were injured in the retaliatory by their rivals, but later Hamayoon succumbed to injuries while being shifted to hospital.

The police’s preliminary investigations revealed that the slain brothers along with other relatives were busy carrying out spray in their agricultural fields when their rivals opened indiscriminate fire over them.

Police said that members of the rival groups had already fought with each other a year ago over a one-foot land as boundaries of their lands were adjacently located.

The police said Zahir Shah group had offered Rs300,000 cash for the disputed one-foot land through members of a local jirga, but their rivals demanded Rs600,000, which was not acceptable to the former.

The police said they had yet to register cross FIRs as members of both the groups were still busy in burying their dead and tending to the injured persons.

Meanwhile, an elderly woman died by suicide after she jumped off a bridge into a stream in Hoti area here, the police and Rescue 1122 officials said on Saturday.

Rescue divers rushed to the spot and launched search for the body.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2025