At least five persons were said to have been shot dead and nine seriously injured in a clash between two groups of pilferers allegedly for control of illegal sand mining spots in Patna district on Thursday.

Residents of Amanabad under Bihta police station said hundreds of rounds were fired during the clash that broke out on Wednesday night and continued till Thursday morning.

“This area is one of the hotbeds of illegal sand mining from the Sone river. One group was digging and loading sand onto trucks when another group attacked it. An exchange of fire ensued. We stayed indoors out of fear. Small incidents keep happening between rivals, but this one was big,” a resident of Amanabad said.

Police did not confirm the recovery of bodies.

“Our teams did not find any bodies when they reached the spot. Local farmers and boatmen also did not tell us about the death of anybody. Our men are looking at various places and an investigation is on,” Patna senior superintendent of police Manavjit Singh Dhillon told reporters.

However, police sources said cops had recovered a body, identified as that of Vijay Kumar alias Vimalesh, a resident of Rampur Chandi village in adjacent Bhojpur district. A large number of spent cartridges have also been recovered from the area, the sources said.

The sources said at least three of the dead were from Maner area of Patna district and two were from Bhojpur.

Illegal sand mining in Bihar is worth several thousand crores. Among the rivers that are targeted by the sand pilferers, the Sone is on top of the list. It is the most bountiful and has the best-quality sand.

Although chief minister Nitish Kumar has taken steps to check illegal sand mining, a nexus between the mafia, the police, the mining department and politicians is said to have compromised the efforts.

The sand pilferers operating in Bihar have thousands of big, motor-fitted transport boats and rigs, as well as their own private militias armed with sophisticated weapons.