SUKKUR: The Sindh police on Tuesday claimed to have rescued all 20 hostages in a grand operation in the riverine area of Soomiani in Ghotki’s Ubauro taulka, a day after they were abducted by bandits and taken to the Katcha (riverine) area.

On Monday, over 20 dacoits reportedly hailing from the Katcha area atta­cked a Quetta-bound bus and kidnapped almost two dozen passengers after inj­u­r­ing the driver. They entered the bus after smas­h­ing the windows and ask­ed the passengers to leave the bus, but did not harm the female passengers.

During the operation on Tuesday — in which police personnel from Ghotki, Kha­­irpur, Sukkur, and Kas­h­more participated — two bandits were reportedly injured and a police constable was hospitalised after he sustained injuries to his hand. Two hostages were also injured, while one victim reportedly died of a heart attack in a sugarcane field, a police official said.

After the incident, Sukkur Range DIG Faisal Abdullah Chachar rea­ch­ed Ghotki and led a strong contingent of police and Rangers officials to chase the kidnappers. The DIG, with Ghotki SSP Muhammad Anwar Khet­ran, Sukkur SSP Azhar Khan Mughal and Khai­rpur SSP Samiullah Soomro, led the joint operation and rescued hostages after an exchange of fire with the bandits.

Two dacoits, as many passengers of Quetta-bound bus injured; one victim dies of ‘heart attack’

The police said they had timely blocked all routes leading from the bund (emb­a­nkment) to the Kat­cha area, preventing the dac­oits from taking the hostages deeper into the Katcha (riverine) area. Af­­ter being rescued, the hostages informed the police that two dacoits were injured during the operation.

DSP Abdul Qadir Soomro said that 14 passengers were initially recovered by the police, while one hostage died ostensibly due to a heart attack in a sugarcane field.

He said the body of the deceased hostage was shifted to the Ubauro hospital. He said that two hostages also sustained injuries who were shifted to the hospital for treatment.

When contacted by Dawn, Irfan Samoon, 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.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2025