All 20 passengers abducted from a bus by Katcha area dacoits near Ubauro in Sindh’s Ghotki district have been recovered unharmed, the Sukkur Range Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) said later on Tuesday.

Around 25 dacoits had attacked the bus in Sadiqabad on Monday night and kidnapped several passengers after injuring the driver.

DIG Sukkur Range, Captain (retired) Faisal Abdullah Chachar, told Dawn that he reached Ghotki and led a large contingent of police personnel from different stations in Ghotki, Sukkur, Khairpur and Kashmore, along with Rangers officials.

DIG Chachar led the joint operation with other senior officers, including Ghotki Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Muhammad Anwar Khetran, Sukkur SSP Azhar Khan Mughal and Khairpur SSP Samiullah Soomro.

“We rescued all hostages unharmed from the clutches of the dacoits, with whom we engaged in a gunfight,” the DIG said.

All routes leading to the Katcha area were blocked in time by police, preventing the dacoits from taking the hostages deeper into the riverine area.

Meanwhile, the rescued hostages informed the police that two dacoits were injured during the operation.

When the police engaged the dacoits, a police constable sustained injuries to his hand. Police moved the wounded personnel to Rahim Yar Khan Hospital for treatment.

A police spokesperson confirmed to Dawn that a search operation against the dacoits is still ongoing.

When contacted by Dawn, the Rahim Yar Khan district police officer, said that the passengers were not kidnapped in his jurisdiction but from a section of the link road going through Guddu in Sindh.

“Sindh police have recovered all the hostages from the clutches of the armed dacoits,” he said.

Mirpur Mathelo Deputy Superintendent of Police Abdul Qadir Soomro told Dawn that earlier today, 14 passengers were initially recovered by the police; however, one of them died of a heart attack in a sugarcane field.

“The body of the deceased hostage was moved to Ubauro Hospital, while and two injured hostages were moved to the hospital for medical treatment,” he said.

An earlier statement from DIG Chachar said that 10 of the kidnapped passengers had been rescued in an initial overnight operation under his command.

The attack

According to some videos shared on social media after 9:30pm on Monday, a passenger said a Sadabahar Company coach departed for Quetta from Sadiqabad at 8pm.

When it reached near the Murid Shaikh area near M-5 Motorway, it took a turn towards Guddu at the Punjab-Sindh border. Some 65kms from the area, the dacoits intercepted the coach and started firing.

They entered the bus after smashing the windows and asked the passengers to leave the coach, but did not harm the female passengers.

Katcha is the area of land running along the Indus River, which is divided between Punjab and Sindh. The region is notorious for banditry.

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 frequently.

PTI leader’s condemnation

PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh, in a statement, condemned Monday night’s incident and called into question the efficiency of Sindh and Punjab police.

“More than twenty citizens were kidnapped; now their bids will be put up,” he said, stressing that the rulers were “failing” to protect their citizens.

He noted that Katcha areas had been declared “no-go” areas. Sheikh called for the immediate release of all the hostages.