August 4, 2002	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 24,1423

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SANGHAR, Aug 3: A bandit, Mumtaz Mari, escaped after killing three policemen and breaking the police cordon here on Saturday.

The body of one bandit was also retrieved from a sugarcane field who was fatally injured in the encounter on Thursday.

The policemen killed were identified as ASI Mohammad Ali Khoso, head constable Nisar Ahmad Qureshi and constable Syed Ameer Kausar Shah.

The dead bandit was identified as Gul Nawaz Mari. He was recognized by his sisters, Gulnaz and Khair Bano.

Another bandit who was killed in the encounter on Friday could not be identified as yet.

Mumtaz Mari, along with two accomplices, had taken shelter in a sugarcane field near Anwar Qureshi village early on Thursday after his gang, having five or six bandits, attacked Ghani Brohi village to kidnap Kamdar and his nephew. His other accomplices had fled towards some other place.

Three hundred policemen with the help of an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) encircled the sugurcane field.

Mari alone engaged the police force for more than 26 hours after both his accomplices were killed.

On Friday night, some of his other accomplices had attacked the police from outside to rescue him but they fled due to intensive police fire.

Despite all the efforts of the police to nab Mari, he managed to enter into another sugarcane field after killing the three policemen. Though the police are still there but have not located the bandit.

A G3 rifle and more than one thousand bullets have also been recovered at the side of dead bandit Gul Nawaz.

His sisters told this correspondent that their elder brother, Dhan Mari, was also killed by the police some time back in an encounter.

After the escape of Mari, a sense of terror has spread in the area as the local police fear that he can attack the villagers who supported the police.