PESHAWAR, Feb 4: Police on Saturday shot dead four robbers in an encounter in Pahari Pura area of Chamkani after four other members of the gang escaped. An Afghan pedestrian was also killed by the armed group on offering resistance and a rickshaw driver died after he was hit by bullets allegedly fired by the police party, officials and residents of the area told Dawn.

A group of eight armed robbers entered the house of Sayyed Naseer Ahmad Shah in Sethi town and collected gold ornaments, cash and other valuables at gunpoint, residents said, whereas police officials claimed that they reached the spot and saw four robbers escaping.

During the encounter all the four robbers were killed on the spot. Policemen escaped unhurt despite the intense firing by the robbers, they added. Police officials claimed that the armed group after collecting valuables from the house of Mr Shah, also tried to rob Afghan national Qurban Ali.

When the police reached the spot, Qurban Ali was already lying on the road which indicated that the robbers had killed him on offering resistance, according to Chamkani Police Station SHO Jamroz Khan Afridi.

Residents said that the eight robbers had split into two groups and tried to escape in different directions. One of the groups succeeded, but the other faced the police, they added.

Three of the robbers were trying to flee in a rickshaw while firing on the police party. The law-enforcement agencies also opened fire and killed the three robbers on the spot, the residents said.

They added that the rickshaw driver also received bullet injuries and died on the spot. However, police officials claimed that the driver was killed by the firing of the robbers.

One of the robbers took refuge in a house, but the raiding party also shot him dead, they maintained.

Police officials said that one of the robbers was identified as Nawabzada, a resident of Ahmadkhel village of Badhber locality of the city. He was wanted by the Badhber police, the officials added. The identity of the other three had not been established.

The rickshaw driver later identified from his NIC issued from Hyderabad (Sindh), as Aslam Khan, son of Noor Wali Shah, said a senior police official.

The police seized gold ornaments, cash, four cellular phone sets, a Kalashnikov assault rifle and four pistols from the robbers.

The IG announced Rs100,000 cash reward for the police party, while a union council nazim and a social worker of the area also announced Rs10,000 and Rs20,000 cash prize, respectively, for killing the outlaws.