DADU, Feb 20: A man was shot dead and 14 others were wounded when two groups of Jatoi tribesmen fought a gun battle during a programme held on Wednesday in Lal Mohammad Jatoi village to celebrate victory of Pakistan People’s Party candidate Syed Murad Ali Shah in the Tuesday by-election for PS-73 Sehwan seat.

At least 15 people, including 28-year-old Roshan Ali, son of Rano Khan Jatoi, sustained bullet injuries in the gunfight.

Roshan Ali succumbed to his wounds a little later. Ayaz Ali, Azam, Abdul Rehman, Razaq, Ali Sher, Anwar, Gulzar, Ali Nawaz, Jumman, Sahib, Waheed, Abdul Majeed as well as a woman, Ms Jannat, and a five-year-old girl, Irum, were taken to hospitals in Bhan Saeedabad and Sehwan.

Eight of them were shifted to the Liaquat University Hospital, Jamshoro, due to their critical condition.

Tension ran high in the entire village and its surrounding areas as armed men belonging to both sides took positions and continued to fire at each others’ houses.

The battle was continuing till last reports came in from the area late Wednesday.

A resident of Lal Mohammad Jatoi village, Mumtaz Jatoi, told journalists that most people in the affected area had been trapped in their houses and ran out of food and water for many hours because of the intense firing outside.

He said police also seemed helpless as they could not enter the village.

SSP Farrukh Bashir of Jamshoro told Dawn that a strong contingent of police had been deployed around the village and efforts were under way to bring the situation under control.

Sources in Lal Mohammad Jatoi village, some 116 kilometers from Bhan Saeedabad town of Jamshoro district, said that a group of Jatoi tribesmen, believed to be supporters of Habibullah Rind — the independent candidate supported by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) provincial coordinator Liaquat Ali Jatoi in the by-election — came and exchanged hot words with some of the participants in the programme.

The heated arguments eventually turned into a free-for-all and some armed men from both the sides started firing at each other.

A local PPP leader, Sardar Sikandar Ali Rahpoto, told journalists in Sehwan that activists and supporters of his party in the village were celebrating victory of their candidate in the by-election when supporters of Habibullah Rind and Liaquat Jatoi attacked them.

However, Rano Khan Jatoi, father of the deceased victim, told journalists by phone that PPP activists attacked and killed his son.

He alleged that PPP activists had also hurled threats of dire consequences at him and other supporters of Mr Rind on the polling day.

“On Wednesday, we were standing outside our home when some PPP activists opened fire, killing my son,” he claimed, adding that police were not registering a murder FIR against the assailants.

Habibullah Rind, speaking to Dawn, said that a group of over 20 PPP supporters attacked his supporters in the village.

He appealed to the Supreme Court chief justice to take notice of the attack and direct the Bhan Saeedabad police to register a murder FIR against the assailants.