Daily Times

SHIKARPUR: At least 12 people, including two women and one minor girl, were killed in a clash between two rival groups in Katcha area of Khanpur on Monday. Around dozen others, including women, were injured.

The incident took place in Pir Dost Muhammad village in the limits of Faizo Police Station, around 50 kilometers from Shikarpur. According to police, the armed men from both Saad Khanani Jatoi and Badani Jatoi groups used rocket launchers and automatic weapons during the clash.

The area presented the view of a battlefield as both parties freely used automatic weapons and rocket launchers while police failed to even enter the area.

According to sources, police tried to enter the area but armed tribesmen attacked an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) vehicle with a rocket launcher, forcing the police to remain out of the area. The enmity between the two groups supposedly began when two persons belonging to Saad Khanani Jatoi group were killed in a police shootout and the afflicted clan accused the Badani Jatoi group of sharing information with the police. At least 25 people have been killed over the years in the deadly clashes between the two groups. Only two bodies were brought to the nearby hospital for postmortem while the other bodies still remained at the place of the incident as the warring tribesmen restricted police officials from entering the area. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Home Minister Suhail Anwer Sial took notice of the deadly dispute and sought a detailed report from Deputy Inspector General Police Larkana Abdullah Shaikh. Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Shikarpur Zeeshan Siddiqui has been sent on forced leave by the Sindh government and additional charge of Shikarpur was handed over to Sajjad Ahmed, SSP of Kamber-Shahdadkot.

Published in Daily Times, July 4^th , 2017.