JACOBABAD/SUKKUR, April 6: A woman and her four sons, three of them minor, were killed and two others injured in an attack on their house in Gulab Palal village of Garhi Khairo taluka early Sunday morning.

More than 12 armed men barged into the house and opened fire on the sleeping inmates. Ms Begum, 35, and her sons Abdul Qadir, 18, Fateh Mohammad, 6, Amir, 4, and Nasir, 2, were killed on the spot and Najma, wife of Abdul Qadir, and Farooq, were injured.

The police handed over the bodies to relatives after autopsy.

Farooq and Najma were taken to Jacobabad Civil Hospital but because of inadequate facilities they were referred to Chandka Medical College Hospital, Larkana.

Shahnawaz Palal, a relative of deceased, has lodged an FIR against Mir Sadiq Umrani, his brothers Abdul Sattar Raza Ali, Liaquat Ali, Abdul Latif, Lal Mohammad, Muheen, of the Umrani tribe, Shahnawaz Danghar and three unidentified people with the Meeranpur police.

However, no arrest was made till the filing of this report.

According to local people, Gulab Palal had given agricultural land in the Naseerabad area of Balochistan on contract to the Umrani tribesmen.

Now Mr Palal was demanding return of his land but the Umrani tribesmen had refused to do so. Mr Palal had received threats of dire consequences if he kept on asking the Umranis to give up possession of the land.

Later, hundreds of villagers staged a protest demonstration outside the Miranpur police station to protest against the killings.

They were shouting slogans against police for failing to provide protection to the people and arrest the accused.