RAWALPINDI: Police have registered a case under section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and other charges in connection with the alleged police encounter with a gang of suspected robbers which left two suspects dead and three police officials injured in Bahria Town Phase VIII early on Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, raids by specialised units of Islamabad police were underway to arrest the suspects who escaped after the encounter.

The FIR was registered in the Rawat police station on the complaint of Station House Officer (SHO) Margalla Inspector Abdul Ghafoor.

The complainant claimed in the FIR that he and his subordinates were on a special mission to apprehend a proclaimed offender, a Peshawar resident wanted in connection with a robbery in F-8 Markaz, when he received information that the suspect was hiding in a house in Bahria Town Phase VIII with looted goods.

He said following the information, reinforcement of police was called to Phase VIII at 6am and a house was surrounded by police who warned the suspected robbers residing in the house to surrender. But instead of giving up, the suspects opened fire on the police which resulted in injuries to constables Inam Rasool, Pervez Khan and head constable Bahar Ali of the Anti-Terrorist Squad of Islamabad.

The FIR said panic gripped the surrounding residential areas due to exchange of gunfire.

“Due to echo of gunfire, woman and children in the surrounding areas started screaming,” the FIR said, adding in the meantime four suspected robbers climbed to the rooftop of the house and started firing on the police.

Getting benefit from the thickly-populated area, the suspected robbers escaped. As the firing stopped, the police entered the house and found two bodies of unidentified persons lying on the rooftop and firearms left close to them.

Police claimed that the two persons had died from the firing of their accomplices who escaped from the scene.

One of the killed persons was wearing brown shalwar kameez and a Kalashnikov was lying close to his body. Besides, a 9mm pistol was also found from the scene. A Kalashnikov was also found near the second body.

Since the place of encounter was located within the Rawalpindi police jurisdiction, the Islamabad police had alerted the local police before the operation was conducted. However, the police have not described in the FIR how many criminals managed to escape and whether or not the police chased them.

According to sources, the suspects had taken the house in Bahria Town’s Ali Block Phase VIII on rent two weeks ago and the ICT police had been monitoring its tenants for the last two days.

They said one of the robbers snatched a car from its owner at F-8 on Friday night while his two accomplices were giving cover to him. After snatching the car, the two suspects came to the house in Ali Block.

The police, sources said, sneaked into the house from where sound of gunshots was heard in the area. After the gunfire stopped, the police claimed to have killed two of the robbers.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2021