THATTA, July 25: Three outlaws were killed and another was arrested in an encounter with police in a forest near Chilya on the National Highway on Sunday. DPO Muzaffar Hussain Shaikh told journalists that on a tip off that Akbar Manchhari and his gang were hiding in the Shah Linko forest, a police party sealed off exit points of the forest on Saturday evening.

After a long wait, an encounter took place near Chilya in which Manchhari and his two accomplices, Ghulam Hussain and Kitli Khoso, were killed with no casualties on the police side.

Another outlaw, whose name was not disclosed, was arrested and two Kalashnikovs, two pistols, a rifle and a large number of cartridges were recovered. Villagers, however, refuted the police claim, saying that the outlaws were asleep in an autaq (guest house) by the forest when the police rounded them up and shot them dead.

Outlaw Manchhari carried Rs500,000 head money and was wanted for many heinous crimes in Thatta and Badin districts.

ROBBERY: Some 24 picnickers from Karachi were deprived of cash and valuable items on gunpoint at the tourist site of Makli on Sunday. The Makli police, however, refused to register a case on the pretext that the crime scene did not fall under their jurisdiction.