LAHORE - Police on Friday confirmed the arrest of eight suspects involved in the shooting which left 10 people dead in district Multan on Eid Day. Another nine people were also injured in the gun attack and are still under intensive medical care at a hospital.
Police sources said the horrific killings were outcome of old enmity between two rival groups. One of the groups targeted their opponents when they were coming back after offering Eid prayers at a village near Jalalpur Peerwala.
A police spokesman claimed that Punjab IGP Arif Nawaz Khan took notice of the killings due to rivalry between two groups in Multan and called an emergency video-link conference.
Punjab DIG (Operations) Atta Muhammad Mayo, Multan RPO Multan Waseem Ahmad Khan Sial, and CPO Imran Mahmood attended the meeting through video-link.
The police chief expressed displeasure over the unfortunate incident and killings on Eid Day.
The IGP suspended SDPO Jalalpur Peerwala Muhammad Saleem Akhtar and also called an explanation from CPO Multan Imran Mehmood, SSP (Operations) Kashif Aslam, and SP (Sadar) Mustafa Pahore.
DIG Waseem Ahmad Khan briefed the IGP that the Multan police arrested 8 nominated accused persons during back to back raids following the shooting.
The suspects were identified by police as Khurram, Azhar, Jawad, Hanif, Saleem, Haseeb, Yaseen, and Shahid.
He said that the police teams were also conducting raids to arrest the other accomplices of the attackers.
According to an official, a temporary police checkpoint has been set up in the same locality to keep the situation under control.
Several special police teams comprising officers from the operations, investigation and homicide unit are working on this case under the direct supervision of Multan RPO Waseem Khan.
Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar took notice of the firing incident and summoned a detailed report from the Regional Police Officer. The CM also directed the RPO to arrest the culprits without any further delay.
The Punjab government will ensure provision of swift justice to the heirs of the victims, the Chief Minister said.
Reportedly, at least 10 people were killed and nine other injured critically during crossfire between two rival groups in Jalalpur Peerwala on Wednesday.
Police said that two rival groups clashed over a land dispute soon after the Eid prayers ended.
An official claimed that some members of Kala Jaffer group were coming back after offering prayers at a local mosque when gunmen from Ghulam Nazuk group opened indiscriminate firing on them, trigging a deadly gun battle that lasted for a considerable time.
Six people died on the spot and four others succumbed to wounds at the District Headquarters Hospital. Seven of the dead belonged to one group while the other group lost three members in the gunfire.
The Multan police registered a criminal case against more than 23 gunmen under various sections of the law. At least 18 people are named in the FIR while five are mentioned as unknown gunmen. Killings over old enmity or land disputes are quite common in the Punjab province where at least 1,208 were murdered during the first five months of this year. Last year, the police had reported at least 1213 murder incidents during the same period.
In several cases, victims were targeted by their opponents on the special occasions like Eid festival or wedding event.
