Seven lives lost in tribal clash, police operation

Violence erupts over petty dispute; cop and private guard martyred; FIRs pending in both incidents

HYDERABAD:

Tribal clashes and police-bandits shootout claimed seven lives including a cop in Kashmore-Kandhkot and Shikarpur districts on Saturday.

According to details, a bloody clash sparked between people of Bhutto and Bangwar communities over a petty incident of a donkey cart belonging to the Bhuttos hitting a man of Bangwar community during which five lives were lost in Budhani area within the jurisdiction of B-Section police station.

The slain persons were identified as Shabbir Bangwar, Reham Ali Bangwar, Ahsaan Bangwar, Aamir Bhutto and Aashiq Bhutto. Bhuttos have blamed Bangwar's for the armed attack on their homes.

After the donkey cart incident on Friday the two sides exchanged hot words on social media. The local people observed that the jurisdiction's police remained missing as Bhuttos and Bangwars took lives of each other besides injuring some passersby.

Incident's FIR could not be lodged by Saturday evening. The bodies of the slain persons were shifted to taluka hospital where heavy police presence prevented a further flare-up.

In another incident, a police constable and a private guard of a police official were martyred while an SHO and constable were critically injured during an alleged police operation to recover Tanwari tribe's five hostages in Shikarpur district on Saturday.

According to the police, the action involving an exchange of fire between the two sides for around eight hours occurred in Rustam, a riverine area in Shikarpur, in the limits of Kot Shahu police station.

Cops from several police stations as well as rangers personnel were dispatched as reinforcement for the police party which had engaged suspected outlaws from Khananh Misrani tribe in the operation. The deceased have been identified as Noor Muhammad Bhayo, a constable of Faizu police station, and Abdul Sattar Brohi, a private gunman of SHO Kot Shahu police station Rafiq Marfani.

Cops with serious injuries were shifted to a hospital in Sukkur district. It could not be known by Saturday evening if the suspected outlaws also suffered casualties or injuries.

Recently an FIR was lodged on the court's order on the complaint of a woman, nominating SHO Marfani and his slain guard Brohi. The complainant, Manzoor Khatoon Jatoi, had alleged that she feared for her and her family's lives from Marfani and his private guards.