KARACHI: Two personnel of the Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, and a minor girl were gunned down in a Quaidabad area hours after the killing of four suspected militants in two separate encounters with the paramilitary force on Sunday, officials said.

The two Rangers personnel — Saifullah, 38, and Sanaullah, 35 — posted at a Rangers checkpoint were targeted by gunmen riding a motorcycle when they went to a bazaar near the Hospital Chowrangi in Muslimabad on a motorbike to purchase ice for Iftar.

They were taken to the Jinnah Post­gra­duate Medical Centre, where doctors declared them dead.

DIG-East Munir Ahmed Shaikh said the attackers were in uniforms of private security guards and they also took away the official weapons of the Rangers men.

The attackers fired 10 bullets from a 9mm pistol.

A six-year-old girl, Ayesha, also sustained bullet wounds and died, said Quaidabad SHO Amanullah Marwat.

He added that another passerby, identified as Nisar, also suffered a bullet wound and was admitted to hospital for treatment.

The DIG said the area where the incident occurred was dominated by a banned militant organisation.

The officials said the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan might be involved in the killing of the Rangers personnel.

Police, Rangers launch joint operation to hunt militants

On Saturday night, the Rangers killed four suspected militants in two alleged encounters in Musharraf Colony and Frontier Colony.

The targeted killings of law-enforcers recently increased in the East zone, especially in Quaidabad, Sharafi Goth and Shah Latif Town.

DIG Shaikh said the police had got significant clues that the killings of policemen were allegedly carried out by ‘sectarian and political militants’, as it appeared that the killings were in reaction to the arrest of suspects belonging to sectarian and political groups.

Meanwhile, a Rangers spokesman said the cowardly act by terrorists showed their frustration.

“Every officer and soldier of Rangers will fight and eliminate terrorists from the motherland,” he said in a statement.

The official said after the Zarb-i-Azb operation, the terrorists were on the run and Rangers had successfully dented their capability to launch a major terrorist attack in the city. “The hunt of the terrorists will continue till their complete elimination and sacrifices rendered by Rangers rejuvenate our resolve to fight against terrorism,” the statement added.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2014