LAHORE: Two alleged criminals were killed in the firing of their accomplices near Shahdara early on Tuesday (Eid day).

The police claimed that a constable was also injured in the shootout with the suspects who had attacked the law enforcers to rescue their arrested suspects.

The Shahdara police inquiries showed that Iqbal Town In-charge Investigation Rashid Amin Butt and his subordinates took two proclaimed offenders Usman Ahmad Khan and his brother Ali Ahmad Khan into custody during a raid a few days ago and obtained their physical remand from a local court.

On Monday last, the inspector and his subordinates were returning Lahore from Islamabad along with the accused when their vehicle broke down on Saggian Road. The police team began waiting for another police vehicle and in the meantime six armed assailants riding motorcycles came there and opened fire in an attempt to rescue their accomplices.

The crossfire took place between two sides and the two arrested men were killed by the firing of their accomplices who also shot at and wounded a constable, Ahmad Nawaz. The police claimed the officials tried to chase the suspects but they fled.

The deceased were arrested in connection with cases of murder, robbery, theft, kidnapping and police encounters. They were also involved in killing two police ASIs who raided a Sanda locality to arrest them a few months ago.

The police shifted the bodies to Mayo Hospital’s morgue for autopsy and registered a case.

ENCOUNTER: An alleged kidnapper was killed in a ‘shootout’ with the Crimes Investigation Agency police in Defence C police jurisdiction on Eid day.

The Cantonment CIA police claimed the suspect identified as Afzal Jutt was involved in abducting a child named Murid for Rs2.5 million ransom and killed him after receiving Rs1 million.

The police claimed two motorcyclists were stopped at a picket in Defence C police limits in early hours. The suspects opened fire on the police who responded killing one of them.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2014