KARACHI, Dec 4: A policeman was shot dead and another was wounded when they resisted armed men in a bank robbery bid in PECHS on Saturday.

Police said that three robbers in a white Mehran and four others on two motorbikes came to the United Bank Ltd branch of Kashmir Road. Three of them went inside, snatched repeater gun from the guard and made the staff and visitors hostage at gunpoint. Four of the accomplices took position outside the bank.

Two policemen on a motorbike came there on routine patrolling. The robbers got panicky and opened fire at the policemen resulting in death of a constable Rasool Bukhsh, 35.

The other policeman, Mohammad Ali, suffered bullet wounds and returned the fire. The robbers, who were inside the bank, came out without committing the robbery and fled.

Rasool Bukhsh, a resident of Mujahid Colony, was father of two children. He was posted at Ferozabad police station eight months back, the police said.

Area residents complained that the police appeared helpless in controlling unabated incidents of armed robberies in the area. They said that snatching incidents of mobile phone sets and cash from people especially from women were on the rise.