LARKANA: Two policemen were gunned down and a third one was wounded when they came under attack near Zakriya Mahesar village, some 15 kilometres from here on Tuesday.

Police claimed that they rushed to the crime scene and engaged the criminals in an encounter, which led to the death of three of them.

Giving details of the episode, Larkana SSP Imran Qureshi said three suspects riding motorcycles sprayed a police mobile van with bullets near the village resulting in the spontaneous death of two members of the special police force. The martyred policemen were identified as Barkat Ali Chachar and Khalid Hussain Kango. The third member wounded in the attack was identified as Abdul Wahid Chandio.

SSP claims three outlaws gunned down in ensuing ‘encounter’

The SSP said he along with a strong contingent of personnel rushed to the spot and challenged the attackers. An encounter ensued in which all three outlaws were killed, he claimed, adding that their bodies were shifted to the Chandka Medical College Hospital’s accident and emergency unit.

Two Kalashnikovs and a TT pistol were seized from them, the SSP’s public relations officer said.

The additional inspector general of police, Sukkur range, also visited the site of the incident, he said.

PPI quoting the same SSP reported that two outlaws were killed in the encounter and a third one was injured and arrested. According to the news agency’s report, the special police force members during a routine patrol signalled three armed men riding motorcycles to stop but they started firing on them. Each of the three bike riders possessed Kalashnikov rifles, the agency quoted the SSP as saying.

The firing left the police mobile’s van driver, constable Barkat Ali Chachar, and his colleague, constable Khalid Kango, dead. The team’s in-charge Abdul Wahid Chandio was wounded in the attack, the report said.

The PPI report suggested that another police team, which was sent after the attackers, engaged them in an encounter. Two of the outlaws were killed in the clash and a third one was wounded and arrested, the report quoting the SSP said. The arrested suspect was shifted to an undisclosed place, it added.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2021