SUKKUR: Three men were killed and six others wounded when two rival groups involved in litigation traded fire in the Darb Mehar area of Khairpur district on Saturday.

Some of the wounded victims and area police said that the armed clash took place when a group of Ujjan clansmen waylaid a car carrying their rival Kleri community members on their way to a court in Khairpur.

One of the car occupants, Sajjad Klei, and driver Gada Burdi, were killed on the spot and three other Kleris, Azhar, Murtaza Dildar, were wounded in the attack.

The Kleris returned the assailants’ fire killing one of them, Aslam, and wounding three others, Sha’aban, Sharif and Abdul Karim.

Officials at the Khuhra police station said that the incident took place in the Darb Mehar locality near Gambat town of Khairpur district.

SHO Maqsood Korai told the media that a police team rushed to the site and transported the victims to the Gambat Institute of Medical Science (GIMS).

He confirmed that armed Ujjans attacked the car carrying Kleris, who were on their way to a court in Khairpur to attend the hearing of their case.

Heavy deployment of police personnel had been made in the villages inhabited by Ujjans and Kleris to avoid further bloodshed.

Khairpur SSP Hassan Sardar Niazi has sent an initial inquiry report to the home minister, stating that 20 suspects had been rounded up soon after the incident for interrogation.

Meanwhile, a woman, Fehmida Khatoon, and her daughter, Reshma Khatoon, were shot dead allegedly by their rivals within their Nareja community on Saturday. Officials at the Khuhra police station said the incident took place in Motan Narejo village, near Gambat town.

They said that the attack was linked with an old enmity between two groups of the community.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2025