LARKANA, April 17: The district health officer, Dr Inayat Kandhro, was injured in a gun attack on his private clinic at Badah on Sunday.He was taken to Chandka Medical College Hospital where doctors suspecting a rupture in the main artery advised that he be shifted to Karachi.

Dr Abdul Fatah Bughio, EDO (health), said that two groups of people belonging to the Jalbani and Kandhros communities had a dispute over a plot of land situated on the outskirts of Badan and it led to the firing.

But sources said the dispute was sparked by a court marriage between a woman of the Kandhro community and a man of the Jalbani community of the village of Daud Kandhro.

A few days ago, representatives of the two communities reached a settlement with the help of elders. But it did not last long and on Sunday, three men on a motorbike opened fire at Dr Kandhro.

The attack led to a strike in Badah. Dr Afsar Bhutto, president of the Larkana chapter of Pakistan Medical Association, has condemned the incident and called for arrest of the culprits.