Punjab police on Sunday claimed to have killed a bandit, who was allegedly involved in martyring 12 policemen last year, during an operation in Rahim Yar Khan’s Katcha area, according to a statement.

Organised criminal gangs have been active in the riverine border areas of southern Sindh and central Punjab for decades, often making money through kidnap-for-ransom assaults. The military had launched a full-scale operation against criminal gangs in Sindh in the early 1990s but they resurfaced after successive governments failed to maintain law and order in the province.

According to the Punjab police statement, a suspect identified by the alias of Meera Kosh was killed in an operation in the border area of ​​Kacha Machka today.

“Police led by DPO (District Police Officer) Rizwan Umar Gondal … conducted an operation against the dacoits involved in the martyrdom of policemen in Kacha Machka,” a Punjab police spokesperson was quoted as saying.

The statement added that elite police commandos and armoured vehicles were employed during the operation. The spokesperson was quoted as saying that police raided the dacoits’ hideouts and a massive gunfight ensued.

“[The] dacoits fled towards Sindh,” the police spokesperson was quoted as saying.

He added that police set fire to ambush sites used by the bandits after a search operation and pursued them with armoured vehicles.

“We will bring the petty criminals and terrorists to their end,” Rahim Yar Khan DPO Rizwan Umar Gondal was quoted as saying.

The statement added that Punjab Inspector General of police Dr Usman Anwar congratulated Rahim Yar Khan Police for bringing the main suspect behind martyring police personnel to justice.

Last Saturday, armed suspects allegedly killed a farmer’s son for refusing to pay extortion in the Katcha area of Machka, near the Punjab-Sindh border.

Reports said that Abdul Wahid, 22, was irrigating sugarcane fields in Mauza Sikandar Chachar when a group of dacoits allegedly shot him dead before fleeing towards the Katcha area of Sindh.

The Sindh police and Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) had decided in August last year to intensify ongoing joint operations against bandits in the province’s riverine areas.