MIRPURKHAS: An assistant sub-inspector (ASI) was wounded during a botched raid on a hideout carried out by a team of CIA police in Naokot on late Thursday night.

The team headed by CIA Mirpurkhas In-charge Iqbal Jatt had carried out the raid to arrest, Younus Chandio, who was declared absconder in the murder case of a man, Ameer Hassan Mirani Baloch. The man was killed on Dec 13 last year.

As soon as the hideout was raided, the suspect opened fire, which was returned. One member of the raiding team, ASI Shoaib Hussain Jaffri, was wounded in the gun battle. The suspect managed to escape under the cover of heavy firing.

The wounded ASI was rushed to the Naokot rural health centre where he was provided emergency treatment and referred to a major hospital.

The disgruntled CIA team took a motorcycle, parked at the hideout, in custody and returned to the CIA Centre. A little later, a police team took a bulldozer to the hideout and demolished it.

An FIR pertaining to the armed attack on police party and attempt to kill was registered against Younus Chandio on the complaint of CIA In-charge Iqbal Jatt at the Naokot police station. Relevant sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act, were also invoked.

According to the CIA police, the incident took place near Deh Samaro, situated along the Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD). They said the suspect used a sophisticated weapon to escape arrest.

They said Chandio was declared ‘proclaimed offender’ by the Tharparkar sessions court in some other case as well.

Meanwhile, Mirpurkhas SSP Shabbir Ahmed Sethar has set up a team headed by the local CIA’s DSP to ensure arrest of Younus Chandio.

More raids were being conducted for his arrest, the police said.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2025