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Two Reporters in Troubled Pakistan Province Killed

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<i> Times Wire Services</i>

Ethnic clashes spread Saturday to rural areas of Sind province as motorcycle-riding gunmen shot and killed two Pakistani journalists, minutes after the pair had completed reports about the violence that has turned Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s home province into a battleground.

No one claimed responsibility for the slayings of Ahmed Khan Kamal, a correspondent for Pakistan Press International, a small, privately owned news agency, and Muthair Naqpit, with Nawa-i-Waqt, a leading Urdu-language daily.

The army, which took control of the southern province Friday as the death toll from mounting violence reached nearly 400, said it needs more troops to maintain order.

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The violence in Sind, which erupted May 15, was sparked by differences between the native Sindis and Mohajirs--descendants of Muslims who migrated from India when the subcontinent was divided in 1947. Sindis accuse the better-educated Mohajirs of taking the best jobs and most valuable land.

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