Ten people were kidnapped and three others were injured after multiple vehicles were attacked by bandits on the Sukkur-Multan motorway in Punjab’s Rahim Yar Khan district on Thursday morning, various officials confirmed to Dawn.com.

For decades, dozens of bandit gangs armed with sophisticated weaponry have operated with impunity in northern Sindh as well as southern Punjab. Kidnappings for ransom, extortion rackets, brutal killings and robberies on major highways occur on a daily basis.

South Punjab Additional Inspector General of Police (IG) Kamran Khan told Dawn.com that between 20 and 25 suspects attacked vehicles on the motorway.

“Three people were injured in the incident,” he said. “Two of them suffered minor injuries, so they were discharged. One remains admitted in hospital with gunshot wounds to the waist and leg.”

Additional IG Khan added that 10 people were abducted from the scene by the suspects and that no money or valuables were stolen.

Sheikh Zayed Medical College Hospital (SZMCH) spokesperson Rana Ilyas Ahmed confirmed to Dawn.com that three injured people were admitted to the facility.

He later said that two of the injured had been discharged, while one was “receiving treatment for a gunshot wound to the leg”.

“The injured were aboard the same coach and hail from Sheikhupura,” Ilyas said.

Rahim Yar Khan police spokesperson Sub-Inspector Zeeshan Randhawa told Dawn.com that the incident took place on Thursday morning, but did not confirm any injuries or fatalities.

Quoting the Rahim Yar Khan district police officer, Randhawa added that this attack was retaliation for a drone attack carried out on a bandit hideout in the district’s Kacha Ronti area a day earlier.

“We received threats from bandit gangs about a retaliatory attack,” the spokesperson said. “This attack on the motorway was in response to yesterday’s operation.”

Videos and photos recorded at the scene show trucks and other vehicles with bullet holes and popped tyres.

A first information report (FIR) was registered at Bhong police station under Sections 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 324 (attempted murder), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person), 431 (mischief by injury to public road, bridge, river, or channel) and 440 (mischief committed after preparation made causing death or hurt) of the Pakistan Penal Code, as well as Section 7 (punishment for terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

According to the FIR, available with Dawn.com, the incident took place in the early hours of Thursday morning and the attackers were armed with assault rifles and rocket launchers. The firing lasted for half an hour.

It added that one of the vehicles attacked was armoured and belonged to the government.

On August 1, five cops were martyred after bandits from the Katcha area attacked a police checkpoint in Rahim Yar Khan.

In March, three people were allegedly shot dead by dacoits in the Jamaldin Wali area of tehsil Sadiqabad near the Indus River, to avenge the murder of a YouTuber.