LAKKI MARWAT: Four people, including three brothers, were killed and a woman was injured when two groups exchanged gunfire over a property dispute in Bannu on Wednesday.

The incident occurred inside a house in the congested Gardanali Street in the limits of the city police station, officials said, and identified the deceased as Usman, Imran and Suleman, sons of Mumtaz of Peshawar, and Ejaz, son of Nekza Ali Khan of Bannu.

The officials said a woman identified as Shazia Bibi, 40, wife of Balqiaz of Bannu, was injured. She told the police she along with her brothers returned to her home in Bannu after spending five days with parents in Peshawar.

She said she and her brothers were on the second floor of the house when her husband, Balqiaz and in-laws, including Ejaz, Umar Hayat and Madaad, came there and opened fire.

The complainant said her brothers were killed on the spot, while she received injuries.

Fazeelat Bibi, 31, from the other side, told the police she was in her bedroom on the second floor of the house when she heard gunshots. “I came out of the room and found her in-laws Ejaz, 30, Usman, Imran and Suleman lying dead,” she claimed.

The police said a property dispute led to the killings.

They said the bodies and injured were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital.

The police registered a case and began further investigations.

Separately, unknown motorcyclists killed a prayer leader and injured a teenager in Nurar area of Bannu on Tuesday night.

Police said Maulana Irfanullah, 41, was going to his home after offering night prayers when armed motorcyclists sprayed him with bullets. They said the cleric died instantly, and a boy, identified as Amirullah, 18, was injured.

The assailants fled the place, and the body and the injured were taken to the DHQ Hospital.

Naseebullah, a brother of the deceased, told the police that his family had no enmity with anyone. The Miryan police launched an investigation into the incident after registration of a case against unknown killers.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2024