SUKKUR, March 7: Four people were shot dead by unidentified assailants in the Kandhra area near Rohri on Wednesday.

Janib Shaikh, Abid Shaikh, Mohammad Ali Shaikh and Ashiq Shaikh were working in an agricultural field when a gang of about 40 people opened fire on them.

The Kandhra police took the bodies to a hospital and, after post-mortem, handed them over to relatives. The bodies were taken to Lashkar Ali Shaikh village for burial.

A large number of people belonging to Shaikh community blocked the area road, demanding arrest of the killers. They accused people belonging to Janwri community, with whom they had an enmity, of killing the victims.

The protesters dispersed after Sukkur SSP Saqib Ismail Memon assured them of early arrest of the killers

Police conducted raid on Ali Sher Janwri village but failed to make any arrest as the suspects had already left their houses with their families. Police bulldozed more than one dozen houses by using an armoured personnel carrier.

Tension prevails in the area and police have intensified patrolling to prevent any clash between the rival groups. The seven-year-old enmity caused by a land dispute has claimed 16 lives from both sides so far.