8-year-old girl among 14 others dies in Shikarpur tribal clash

Police arrest 20 people of rival groups of Jatoi clan, recover huge cache of arms

KARACHI: A tense atmosphere prevailed on Tuesday in katcha area of Shikarpur district following the killing on Monday of 15 people, including an 8-year-old girl, in a clash between two rival groups of the Jatoi clan.
Monday morning, the area turned into a battle ground, when men of both groups opened indiscriminate fire on some people in Piyaro Saed Khanani village near Khanpur Tehsil within the limits of the Faizo police station, some 50 kilometres from Shikarpur.

The men of both rival groups attacked each other with automatic guns, including rocket launchers, turning the area into a no-go area and police faced difficulties in controlling the situation.



"The gun battle started in the wee hours of Monday and continued for nine hours. Many bodies were lying in the area and police faced difficulties in accessing the scene as gunmen from both rival groups resorted to indiscriminate firing on the police personnel," local journalist Waheed Phulpoto told The Express Tribune.

He said that police, instead of taking action, was requesting influential people to play their role in controlling the situation. "Now, more than 500 law enforcers, including Rangers personnel, have been deployed in the area with around 60 mobiles and armoured personnel carriers," he said.

Citing the reason behind the incident, local police said that there was an old enmity, which has claimed more than 27 lives in the last three years, between the Badani and Saed Khanani groups, a sub-caste of the Jatoi tribe.



"Three years ago, police raided a village belonging to the Saed Khanani community and killed two suspects involved in criminal activities. The victims' families blamed the other group in the area for providing a tip off to the police and law enforcement agencies, which led to action against them. Since then, they have been attacking each other's villages, killing their people to take revenge," a police officer in the area explained.

Talking to the media, some women who were crying in front of Khanpur tehsil mortuary said that they had informed police about the incident, but no one reached to control the situation. "Many lives would have been saved if police had reached the spot in time," an elderly woman said.

The deceased were identified as Kashmir, Kandero, Sarwar, Hazaro, Mataro, Atta Muhammad and Ali Muhammad from Saad Khanani Jatoi group, while Nazal Jatoi, Razia, Sadori and an eight-year-old girl, Naila, daughter of Sadaruddin Channa, who was passing by at the time of the clash, belonged to the Badani Jatoi group.



The injured were identified as Shah Bakhsh Shar, Hamal Jatoi, Dur Muhammad, Hakim Zadi, Shah Dost, Razul, Aliro, Muhammad Aim and others, all of Jatoi caste.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Larkana DIG Abdullah Shaikh refuted reports of police negligence and said that it was the riverine area where police faced difficulties. "Police reached there, but gunmen of both the groups started indiscriminate firing on police vans. Later, we arranged APCs and controlled the situation," he said.

Around 20 people have been arrested and police have recovered a huge cache of arms from the possession of both rival groups, Shaikh confirmed.

The funeral prayers of the victims were held in the area.