Four killed in gunfight over missing cattle

Clash said to be continuation of on-going vendetta killings between two tribes

HYDERABAD/ SINDH:

An on-going spate of vendetta killings between two clans in Madeji, Shikarpur district, claimed four lives and left as many injured on Sunday with three men of Narejo tribe and one of Kharoos tribe shot dead. The armed clash happened in a riverine village in the limits of Tajudero police station. Both sides accused each other for the first strike in reaction to alleged stealing of their cows. The DSP Syed Weedal Shah and his police team later shifted the dead bodies to taluka hospital for postmortem.

The injured were shifted to Larkana. The police identified the slain persons as Aftab Kharoos alias Arif, Saleh Narejo, Rab Nawaz Narejo alias Rabbu and Abdul Razzak Kakrani. Narejos told the local media that the men of Kharoos tribe took away their 15 cows and that when they approached them to get back their livestock, they were attacked. Meanwhile, Kharoos claimed that Narejos stole their 45 cows and also kidnapped their two herdsmen.

“We chased the footprints of the men who had abducted Zaheer and Yaseen and took away our 45 livestock heads and the footprints led us to Narejos. When we reached close to them, they opened fire killing Aftab,” claimed Ghulam Muhammad Kharoos. The police have yet to arrest the suspects or register the FIR. Both the sides have blamed the police for their delayed response to the violent situation. Earlier this year, amid no letup in violent crimes in KashmorKandhkot district, five people were killed and half a dozen were injured in an intra-tribe gunfight in a marketplace in the Bakshapur area on April 22. The fire fight between Domki tribe factions took the entire rural town hostage for over half an hour until reinforcements arrived from other police stations even though Bakshapur police station was close to the site of the clash.

Taking notice of the deadly clash, the Sindh government transferred the district’s SSP Irfan Samo to Shikarpur district, while SSP Shabbir Ahmed Sethar has been given the charge of Kashmore-Kandkhot district. According to police, Edan Domki and Barkat Domki died on the spot. Peer Baksh Domki and Noor Ahmed Domki succumbed to their injuries at the Chandka hospital in Larkana. Dhani Baksh Domki breathed his last on the way to Rahim Yar Khan district of Punjab where other injured persons have been shifted. Local traders and residents complained that police arrived late at the scene and only to shift the casualties to hospital. They also alleged that the Bakshapur police did not even receive their calls when the two sides were engaged in firing.

The local market shut down during the gunfight and people confined themselves to their homes. Neither the incident’s FIR was lodged till Sunday evening nor any arrests were declared in this connection. The two groups of Domki tribe have been locked in a land dispute for years.