HYDERABAD: Two policemen, a private guard of an SHO and a private photographer working with police were killed in an anti-bandit operation in the Garhi Tegho area of Shikarpur district on Sunday.

Seven other policemen, including two SHOs, were injured in the shootout between the outlaws and police.

“The casualties seem to be the result of planning and tactical errors by police,” a police source said. “In the riverine area bandits always have a tactical advantage over police and policemen often end up as sitting ducks during an encounter. This is what has apparently happened again today.”

Additional IG of Sukkur region Dr Kamran Fazal, DIG of Larkana Nasir Aftab and SSP of Shikarpur Saud Magsi could not be contacted for comments despite attempts.

Three of the deceased were identified as constables Munawar Jatoi and Jehanzeb Ujjan and photographer Haseeb Sheikh. The name of the fourth victim, the private guard of SHO Muzamil Soomro, was not disclosed by police.

The injured, including SHOs Muzamil Soomro and Zahid Abro and policemen Sarwar Kori, Sajjad Chandio, Saeed Mahar, Asadullah Pahore and Imran Soomro, were taken to hospital.

Shikarpur police along with police force of other districts is engaged in an operation in Garhi Tegho for recovery of some kidnap victims, including truck drivers Naqeebullah Pathan and Inayat Pathan. They were kidnapped from the Lanju Laro area of Shikarpur a couple of day ago.

Reports said that the bandits had recently kidnapped eight people and kept them in the riverine area of Garhi Tegho. Four of them were released by bandits on Saturday night.

Police launched the operation along with an armoured personnel carrier (APC) but bandits fired shots of anti-aircraft guns on the APC from close range. This damaged the APC and killed the four people, including two policemen, present inside the APC.

The bandits captured the APC and shared its video through different WhatsApp groups to claim their “victory”.

It was learnt that police had reached the area following contacts with the bandits who wanted to hand over the hostages to police provided police released their female relatives who had been picked up by police to build pressure on the criminals.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2021