QUETTA, May 26: Four tribesmen were killed and two others injured seriously in an ambush by unknown armed men in Shahbaz Town area on Saturday. According to police, five tribesmen were travelling in a car when the armed men, riding in another car, chased after them and started shooting at their vehicle.

The injured persons included a passer-by.

The assailants disappeared after the incident.

“Four persons died on the spot,” hospital sources said, adding that they had received multiple bullet injuries.

“The deceased belong to the Hameedzai group, a clan of the Achakzai tribe, which has an old enmity with Ghaibzai, another clan of the same tribe,” Deputy Inspector General Rehmatullah Khan Naizi told Dawn.

The dead included Jaffar Khan, Abdul Bari, Mohammad Sarwar and Khuda-i-Dad. The injured were identified as Allah Gul and Saleem Chohan.

The enmity between the two clans started some 17 years ago when the chief of Ghaibzai tribe was killed near Gulistan on his way home, another senior police officer said.

The killed men included a son of the tribal elder Mir Jalat Khan Achakzai and his two nephews, police added.

After the incident heavy contingents of law-enforcement agencies were deployed in different areas of Quetta to avert clashes between the rival tribes.

Police have registered a case and started investigations.

No arrest was reported till the filing of this report.