DERA GHAZI KHAN, Aug 4: Travelling on the Indus Highway has become more perilous than ever, as two passengers had been kidnapped and another shot dead by highwaymen in different strikes on it in the last two days.

Two incidents occurred on the sections of the highway, which pass through the Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur districts. Reports said highwaymen stopped a bus (TB-8084) by puncturing its tyres with gunshots on the highway in Shahwali police station precinct in Rajanpur on Tuesday night.

The highwaymen plundered cash and valuables from passengers and kidnapped three of them - Dr Awais, Abid and Rizwan - for ransom. Later, they released Dr Awais when he introduced himself as a Baloch.

Shahwali police have registered a case against 10 people under section 365a, 395, 148, 149 and 147 of PPC. According to police, the highwaymen took away the two persons by motorbikes.

In another incident which took place near Triman check post on the Punjab-NWFP border in Dera Ghazi Khan, a villager was shot dead by highwaymen on resistance. At least 10 armed men stopped a bus coming from Karachi.

The bus occupants raised hue and cry due to which several villagers gathered there. One of the villagers, Ghulam Hassan, was shot dead by the highwaymen and another, Wazir, injured.

The bus driver managed to speed away, as the highwaymen were engaged in an encounter with the villagers. Police have registered a case under sections 302, 149 and 148. Later, scores of policemen blocked traffic on the highway to protest against police, who allegedly reached the spot at least two hours after the incident.

They dispersed on the intervention of the Taunsa Sharif tehsil administration. When contacted, the Dera Ghazi Khan Range police DIG told this correspondent that patrolling on the Indus Highway had been enhanced and different teams constituted to recover the kidnapped passengers.