SUKKUR: A bunch of unarmed women fought off a gang of dacoits armed to the teeth merely with sticks and bricks when the criminals stormed two houses in Sheikh locality near Pir Zahir Zakria in Bagarji town, Sukkur district, late on Wednesday night.

Shocked and frustrated at the unexpected resistance, the dacoits’ associates standing outside vented their anger at the walls and fired indiscriminately at all houses in the locality, wounding a passer-by, said local sources.

The sources said that over 15 members of notorious Rajab alias Rajjo Jatoi gang barged into the houses of Mohammad Ali Sheikh and his brothers and tried to rob the inmates when the men were at work.

However, to their utter surprise, the unarmed women bravely resisted them by using sticks, bricks and anything they could lay their hands on. Finally, they succeeded to push back the intruders and lock themselves up in their houses, they said.

During the ensuing commotion, the other dacoits standing outside fired indiscriminately at all the houses in the locality, creating fear and forcing inmates to lock their doors, said eyewitnesses, adding a young man from Jamali community sustained gunshot wound to his arm during the fierce firing.

The sources said that the gang managed to escape from the area before men of the Sheikh community rushed back to their homes.

The area police, who were posted at a short distance from the scene, allegedly arrived an hour late and merely asked residents of the locality if anyone was dead and injured in the firing, said the sources.

A video clip went viral on social media following the incident, which purportedly showed Rajab Jatoi, ring leader of the Jatoi gang, threatening the Sheikh community of dire consequences.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2025