KARACHI: Two killed, 11 injured as prison van ambushed
By S. Raza Hassan
KARACHI, Feb 28: Two persons, a policeman and a prisoner, died and 11 others, including police officials, prisoners and a shopkeeper, were wounded when unknown assailants ambushed a prisoner van in the built-up area of Bhorapir on Thursday.
Constable Mohammad Shakil and an unidentified prisoner were killed. The injured policemen were Mohammad Nazeer, Mubarak Shah, Saulehin and Mohammad Usman.
The injured prisoners were identified as Hakim Shah, Imran Jameel, Aslam, Shar Mohammad, Shahzad and Dilawar Husain.
Both Dilawar Husain and Shahzad had been activists of banned Laskhar-i-Jhangvi and it seemed that the ambush had been aimed at freeing some of the prisoners, a senior police official observed.
A shopkeeper, Abid Husain, aged 67, received a bullet wound in his abdomen while he was sitting outside his shop.
A prisoner van (SP-9062) carrying 45 prisoners was returning to Central Jail from City Courts when some assailants ambushed it in the narrow street of Bhorapir.
A senior police official told Dawn that the firing had been so intense that the policeman sitting in the back of the van could not return the fire.
Two police officials present at a police picket located near the Chuna Chowk returned the fire, forcing the assailants to flee, said Homicide SSP Manzoor Mughal.
He the assailants had been travelling in a yellow cab.
At least 28 bullet holes had been spotted on the prisoner van, on the back side alone, he added.
“Had the two policemen not returned the fire, the assailants could have freed some of the prisoners,” the SSP maintained.
The van’s injured driver, Mohammad Usman, said he had tried to accelerate the van away when the firing started.
“But as I tried to do that the van collided with an electric pole and windscreen of the vehicle got broken”.
According to a senior police official some of the assailants might have already taken positions in the narrow streets as the bullets had hit the van from various directions.
The van had also come under fire from the front as several bullets holes had been found on the front section of the van, the SSP added.
The injured were taken to the Civil Hospital.
The injured prisoners who were locked inside the van continued to suffer at least for around half an hour till the arrival of fresh police reinforcements.
Police also found two Kalashnikovs from the spot which were dumped by the assailants while fleeing.
“I have not witnessed such intense firing in my life during which we naturally ran for cover,” said Yousaf, a shopkeeper.
Yousaf’s father, Abid Husain was sitting outside the shop on a chair when he was struck by a bullet in his abdomen.
