Five members of a family were shot dead in the Manga Mundi police precincts by four men over an old enmity on Thursday.
The victims: a 75-year-old man, his two sons and two nephews, were on their way to Sessions Court for the hearing of a case when they were ambushed near Bahria Town. All five died instantly while the shooters spared the car driver and fled. None of the suspects was arrested.
The deceased men were identified as Haji Barkat, 75, his two sons namely Ahmad Ali, 35, and Muhammad Amin, 30, and his two nephews namely Muhammad Fayyaz, 25, and Muhammad Nawaz, 26 sons of Jan Muhammad. All of them were residents of Jaliyana Village, Manga Mundi. The attackers intercepted Barkat’s car from the front and sprayed a volley of bullets at the victims after dragging the car driver
out of the car.
An eyewitness said that the killers left the crime scene after confirming the death of the victims. He said the attackers riddled the bodies with bullets.
Local police and Edhi ambulances rushed to the scene after the incident and shifted the victims to Jinnah Hospital where doctors declared them dead. The bodies were later moved to the morgue for autopsy. Police collected empty shells and other forensic evidence from the crime scene and took the car and the driver into custody. A police investigator said sophisticated weapons of including 44-bore and 222-rifles were used by the attackers.
The incident spread a wave of panic through the area and passersby ran for safety. A traffic jam was also observed at the crime scene.
Haji Barkat and suspected party’s head Sher Muhammad were once close friends. They also belonged to the same village. A villager of Jaliayana said hat the suspected party’s head Sher Muhammad died four years ago and till his death there was no rivalry between the two families. Later, Sher Muhammad’s son was killed by one of Haji Barkat’s sons and this sparked enmity between the two families. According to Deputy Inspector General Operations Ghulam Mehmood Dogar, a case had been registered and investigations were underway. He said the criminals involved in the incident would be arrested soon.