QUETTA: Five policemen were killed and nine others, two senior officials among them, injured in a shootout after a bank robbery in Mastung on Tuesday.

Two robbers also were killed during the encounter and three others were arrested after a clash.

Police said that seven armed robbers had stormed the main branch of the National Bank of Pakistan in the town and snatched cash from the staff. Police reached there while the robbers were fleeing and came under fire. The ensuing exchange of fire continued for about an hour, leaving five policemen and two robbers dead.

The robbers fled but were chased by another police party which engaged them in Hindu Muhalla. An exchange of fire left two senior officials and seven policemen injured.

Three robbers surrendered with the looted money but two of them escaped. Police identified them as Shakeel Rind, Ashfaq Alizai and Kamran Mohammad Shahi.

The policemen who were killed are head constables Abdul Hameed and Akbar, constables Muneer Ahmed and Arz Mohammad and Mohammad Haneef.

The injured included Assistant Commissioner of Mastung Shafqat Anwar, DSP (legal) Nazeer Ahmed, Assistant Sub-Inspector Nusratullah and policemen Imam Dad, Abdul Waheed, Saeed Ahmed, Ghulam Ali, Mohammad Ameen and Mamtaz Ahmed.

The injured were taken to a local hospital and later sent to the Combined Military Hospital in Quetta.