Forever foes: Three killed in Tibby City ambush

Two brothers among dead in attack over ‘property dispute’

LAHORE: Three people, including two brothers and a bystander, were gunned down on Saturday morning in yet another incident of violence in Tibbi City. According to initial findings, the victims were murdered due to a personal enmity.

Rana Ayub, Rana Shakoor, Qaiser Mehmood, Rana Mehboob and others were on their way to appear before a civil court. As they neared Lady Willington Hospital, the assailants ambushed the group and opened fire. One of the victims was immediately injured and fell to the ground.  An assailant approached the injured man and shot him in the head, killing the victim on the spot.

The gunman subsequently chased after the other members of the group as they tried to escape. Three people, including a bystander, were injured by the indiscriminate firing. The victims were rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors said three of them were dead on arrival. The deceased were identified as Rana Shakoor, Rana Ayub and Hafiz Ashiq, while Amin Khan was injured in the incident.

Rana Ayub and Shakoor were brothers and both residents of Kala Khatai Road in Shahdara, while Hafiz Ashiq, a passerby, hailed from Kashmir. Injured Amin Khan is a resident of Vehari and works at a nearby sugarcane juice shop.

An FIR was registered under Section seven of the Anti-Terrorism Act as well as sections 302, 324, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of Rana Farooq. He nominated Naeem Sardar, Adeel, Waqas alias Vikki, Shan, Majid and four unidentified suspects.

According to initial investigations, Rana Shakoor and Rana Ayub had an old enmity with their cousin Naeem Sardar who is the prime suspect in the case. The suspect had a dispute with Qaiser Mehmood, who escaped the ambush unscathed, over the possession of a house.

Qaiser had obtained a court decree from in his favour, but Naeem had not given up possession of the property. As a show of support, the victims were accompanying Qaiser who had filed cases against Naeem in Islampura and Shahdara.

Fierce foes

The animosity between Naeem and Rana Ayub had been raging on for some time. Ayub’s sister was divorced some years ago and Naeem extended his support to the husband’s side. In addition, Ayub had also filed a reportedly false case against Abdul Rauf, the brother-in-law of Naeem. Rauf ultimately died of cardiac arrest and the suspect believed his death was caused by anxiety brought on by the case.  The victims, meanwhile, had also been implicated an attempted murder case in 2011.

An investigator told The Express Tribune that many cases were registered against suspects’ family in different districts such as Gujranwala, Sheikhupura and Lahore. “They never had the best of reputations,” he said.

SP City Adil Memon said initial investigations suggested the attack was spurred on by an old enmity. Police are conducting raids to arrest the suspects and are investigating the matter further.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2017.