August 16, 2008	Saturday	Sha'aban 13, 1429

THATTA, Aug 15: Two suspected highwaymen were killed while two policemen sustained bullet injuries in an encounter between police and the suspected criminals during an alleged robbery near Bhaiti stop on Sujawal-Jati road early on Friday.

Sources said Sujawal police received a tip-off about a robbery attempt. Police rushed to the spot in a private car and hid in the roadside bushes and besieged the suspected robbers.

The robbers were looting passengers of two vehicles. An encounter took place between police and the robbers which resulted in the killing of two suspected dacoits Sheroo Mandhro and Ashraf Mallah while their three accomplices managed to escape.Policemen Liaquat Unnar and Mohammad Mallah were injured in the clash.

Sujawal SHO Farooq Nizamani told Dawn that police had recovered unlicensed arms from the possession of robbers but declined to give any further details.

However, the brothers of the deceased Ashraf Mallah, Vikio Mallah and Pyaro Mallah claimed that their brother was a hari and was killed by police on the instigation of a local influential man.

The other deceased Sheroo Mandhro was also a labourer, his relatives claimed.

Later, dozens of villagers carrying axes and sticks blocked the Sujawal-Jati road by placing the bodies of the deceased on the road.

Police reached there and resorted to aerial firing to end the blockade.

The protesters then forced the traders in Sujawal to close down their businesses.

DPO of Thatta Fida Hussain Mastoi, when contacted, claimed the deceased were dacoits and had made the lives of people hell by virtually ruling over the area highways.