TAXILA: A motorcycle snatcher was shot dead during an encounter with police near Margalla Hills, a police spokesman said.

He said three armed men snatched a citizen’s motorcycle as well as cash and escaped. On receiving information, the police chased the suspects who opened fire at them near Margalla. Three bullets hit the police’s vehicle but the officials remained safe.

However, one of the suspects received a bullet injury during the exchange of fire and died while the other two escaped. A motorcycle along with a wallet was recovered from the dead suspect’s possession.

The deceased was shifted to the hospital for postmortem. Forensic and other evidence has been collected from the spot while a search operation is underway in the area to arrest the remaining suspects.

It may be mentioned here that on Wednesday, police shot and injured another alleged motorcycle snatcher in the same area.

Moreover, auto-thieves stole the car belonging to the resident editor of a local Urdu weekly outside his house located in Kohsar Colony in the jurisdiction of the same police station.

Abdul Sammad reported to police that he had parked his car outside his house which was stolen by unknown thieves.

Separately, three masked men, armed with pistols, snatched a motorcycle and cash from Shafqat Khan on Timber Market Road and escaped. Burglars broke into the house of Zaidullah in Wah Saddar police station’s jurisdiction and escaped with gold ornaments worth Rs900,000 and cash amounting to Rs150,000.

Respective police registered separate cases and started further investigation.

Two die in separate incidents

Two persons were killed in separate incidents in Attock on Sunday.

In the first incident, a man was shot dead over an old enmity in Manoonagar area in the jurisdiction of Hassanabdal police station. Police sources said 35-year-old Fayyaz Khan, a native of Dera Ghazi Khan, was going towards his house when two persons riding on a motorcycle intercepted him and shot him dead.

The suspects managed to escape from the crime scene.

Separately, a 10-year-old boy was killed in a hit and run incident on Rawalpindi-Kohat Road, in the jurisdiction of Fatehjang police station. Police sources said the boy was crossing the road near Jaffar village when he was hit by a passenger van.

He died on the spot whereas the van driver managed to escape. The victim is yet to be identified.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2021