DERA GHAZI KHAN: A passerby was killed while two policemen were injured in firing on a patrol team by the infamous Ladi gang near Kachhi Canal in the Kot Mubarik police jurisdiction on Thursday.

The attack on police has come almost a month after the law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) launched an operation against the gang. The action was necessitated after the video of brutal killing of two tribesmen who were said to be police informers went viral.

Sources told Dawn that the Punjab police established a check post at Pull Saifan Yaru near Kachhi Canal to prevent the intrusion of outlaws in the settled area of the district. A police party was on duty over there when Ladi gang operatives opened fire which resulted in passerby Saifullah Halti’s killing and constables Rafique and Mehdi were injured.

The gangsters targeted the police party from western bank of the canal while police retaliated from eastern bank. The four gangsters made good their escape, said sources.

The operation against the gang has been going on for the last more than three weeks and police claim to have arrested more than a dozen facilitators.

Dera Ghazi Khan District Police Officer Omer Saeed Malik claims that the LEAs will track down the attackers.

Earlier, the LEAs demolished eight hideouts of the gang including that of its ringleader Khuda Bakhsh in the tribal area of Dera Ghazi Khan. The DPO, the Rangers commander and others led the operation which was launched on the order of Prime Minister Imran Khan. The forces took into custody its 11 facilitators while ringleader Khuda Bakhsh and his second key commander managed to flee.

The 17-member Ladi gang has hideouts in hilly area of Tuman Khosa in the vicinity of Kashoba Border Military Police station and operates in areas in the jurisdiction of the Kot Mubarik police.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2021