ISLAMABAD: Two persons were killed and three injured during an exchange of fire between two groups over a land dispute in Malpur on Sunday.

According to Secretariat police, both groups resorted to firing when one party was demarcating land.

As a result, Chaudhry Rifat and Raja Kamran were killed and three persons, including a passerby, were injured. Police shifted the dead and injured to Polyclinic.

A police official said two of the injured who were in serious condition have been identified as Raja Rashid and Chaudhry Rehmat.

`A case has been registered and the bodies will be handed over to the relatives after postmortem,` the official said.Another police official, requesting anonymity, said incidents over land disputes have increased after a number of housing societies sprung up in the suburbs of Islamabad.

`Because of these housing societies, the value of property has risen manifold and a number of groups have stahed grabbing land,` he added.

He said the computerisation of land record is the only solution but unfortunately the record could not be computerised despite many claims by the district administration and other concerned departments. A Reporter