THATTA: An assistant sub inspector of police and a constable were martyred and an outlaw killed while a DSP and an SHO were critically injured in an encounter during police raid on criminals’ hideout on farmland near Gharo town early on Wednesday morning.

According to police, FIRs lodged at Gharo police station and eyewitnesses’ accounts, a heavy contingent of police headed by Mirpur Sakro DSP Ghulam Rasool Siyal and Gharo SHO Mumtaz Brohi raided farmland on Babra Road near the coastal town of Gharo to arrest some notorious criminals early in the morning.

As soon as the police reached near the hideout, the outlaws hiding behind thick bushes suddenly started firing indiscriminately, killing the ASI Sakhi Mohammad Bux Murghar and constable Ali Nawaz Channar and injuring the DSP and the SHO, said sources.

The police party chased the fleeing criminals and killed one of them identified as Sadhoro Walhari, said police sources.

Police took the bodies and the injured to Gharo hospital from where the bodies were sent to their respective areas, Mirpur Sakro and Jhol village in Sanghar district, under full police protocol after performance of funeral prayers at police headquarters in Makli. SSP Dr Imran Khan, Rangers officials, representatives of various departments and citizens participated in the funeral prayers.

Police registered three FIRs at Gharo police station about the encounter.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2021