SHIKARPUR, Nov 18: A police constable was killed and 16 people, including two policemen, were wounded when bandits attacked two convoys of coaches on Shikarpur-Kandhkot Road near the Begari Wah bridge on Saturday night.

A group of 10 bandits ambushed a police vehicle, escorting a convoy 10 coaches on way to Karachi from Peshawar, and forced coach drivers to stop their vehicles.

A shootout occurred when the police returned the fire. During the shootout, policeman Amin Mangrio died on the spot, and police constables Abdul Rasheed Buriro and Dost Muhammad Buriro, and a coach driver of Notank, Mazhar Shah, received serious wounds.

The bandits looted thousands of rupees and valuables from the passengers and fled the scene, firing in the air.

Two hours later, 12 bandits ambushed another convoy of coaches, coming from Kandhkot, at the same place and wounded at least 12 passengers.

The bandits looted about Rs500,000, watches and other valuables from the passengers, and fled the scene.

The injured, whose names could not be ascertained, were admitted to Shikarpur, Kandhkot and Karampur hospitals.

Two of the injured — coach driver Mazhar Shah and cleaner Adnan — were referred to a Karachi hospital from the Civil Hospital, Shikarpur.

The Karampur police registered two cases, but none of the bandits had been arrested till the filing of this report.

JSM: The chairman of the Jeay Sindh Mahaz (JSM), Syed Zain Shah, said that he believed in positive thinking for protection of fundamental rights of all the four provinces in the interests of their people according to their aspirations and needs. But he regretted, in the name of religion and federation, the rulers belonging to the PPP, the Muslim League, and other groups had usurped the basic rights of small provinces after coming in power, and created economic, social, and political imbalances in Sindh.