Karachi Police. – File Photo by AFP

KARACHI: A policeman was killed in a shoot-out with bandits and a teenage girl caught in crossfire died in the Shershah area on Saturday, police said.

They said that the incident was witnessed by many passers-by and traders on Meeran Naka Road, which connects Lyari with Shershah and houses dense localities on either side.

They added that Assistant Sub-Inspector Raheemullah was spotted by some area traders when he was going home on a motorbike and informed about the presence of bandits in the area’s steel market.

“ASI Raheemullah was actually our intelligence officer,” said Inspector Shahid Jabbar, the SHO of the Shershah police station. “He was on a motorbike in civvies but was well known to area traders. He was armed and on the traders’ request he pursued the bandits who were still in the market.”

Although investigators were unclear about the exact number of the bandits, they said that an encounter between two bandits and the ASI ensued outside the shops on the main Meeran Naka Road.

“After a brief exchange of fire, the bandits ran away and ASI Raheemullah chased them. As the bandits were firing indiscriminately, one of the shots hit a teenage girl in the abdomen as she approached the main road from an adjacent lane unaware of the shooting,” he added.

The police suspected that the fleeing bandits were joined by more accomplices on the other side of the road, where they targeted ASI Raheemullah.

He was hit twice each in the head and the chest, they added.

“Witnesses told us that he was well and unhurt when he started chasing the bandits and even left them wounded too,” said SSP West Asif Ejaz Sheikh. “But it appears that the bandits were later joined by more aides and our officer fell prey to their firing later in the encounter.”

He said that the police had reason to believe that the armed bandits also sustained bullet wounds, adding that the area police had yet to make any arrest.

“We have cordoned off the area and deployed the police on every entry and exit points to keep an eye on the bandits. We are also gathering intelligence,” added SSP west.

The victim girl was identified as 18-year-old Nida Munir, a resident of the same area.

In his mid-40s, the ASI had been associated with the Shershah police station for the past five years. He was father of seven and originally hailed from Peshawar. He was living here in Kokab Colony, Rasheedabad, Baldia Town.

Suspect, minor boy shot dead in Pak Colony A suspected drug dealer and a 12-year-old boy were killed in the Pak Colony area on Saturday, police said.

The area police said that a single bullet hit 23-year-old Liaquat Hussain in the head outside his home near Ghaas Chowk.

“The victim’s family said a few friends came to meet him in the second half of the day,” said Inspector Abdul Moid, the SHO of the Pak Colony police station. “The family only heard firing and a few of them rushed outside the home and found Liaquat lying in the pool of blood. Twelve-year-old Dilshad was playing with friends in the same street also sustained a bullet wound in the firing.”

He claimed that the victim was a known drug dealer of the area and had recently been released from prison. He was also booked in several cases of drug trafficking by the Shershah and Pak Colony police stations, he added.