SUKKUR, May 20: Six people were killed and seven women and two children were kidnapped by groups of armed men of the Mahar, Almani, Korai and other Baloch tribes as armed clashes took place in several villages of Mirpur Mathelo and Ghotki in continuing dispute over the marriage of Shaista Almani and Balkhsher Mahar, which has not been accepted by the tribesmen.

Police have arrested over 100 people belonging to different tribes while Rangers personnel have been deployed to bring the situation under control. Sindh Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mahar who has been in his native town of Khangarh for two days, appealed on Thursday to the Sardars and the elite of the area to stop fighting over what he called a minor issue already settled by the Sindh High Court.

He criticized the failure of police to control the situation and ordered them to take drastic action against elements who were disturbing peace of the province, particularly in the districts of GHotki and Sukkur.

The trouble started when about 30 armed people attacked the village of Ramzan near Mirpur Mathelo and gunned down one Dilbar Mahar and injured his son Ghulam Mustafa Mahar. The assailants are alleged to have taken away Dilbar Mahar's wife Allah Jawai and daughter Shahnaz.

The Mahars retaliated and killed one Liaquat Korai. The clash escalated when an armed group attacked a village of the Almani tribe near Khanpur and killed two persons, Imdad Almani and Manzoor Almani. A man driving a tractor was also killed.

Another group shot dead one Dilawar Korai in Khenjoo area. It is alleged another armed group surrounded a village of the Korai tribe, near Mirpur Mathelo and kidnapped five women and two children.

The entire region is in grip of tension with armed groups entrenched around villages and ordinary people not daring to go out of their homes. Roads are virtually empty.

The root cause of the dispute is said to be the love marriage between Balkhsher Mahar and Shaista Almani on August 26 last year. The Almani tribe alleges that Shaista was kidnapped and her demands return.