KARACHI, July 24: Three alleged criminals were killed and their fourth accomplice escaped in a wounded condition in the Quaidabad area in an encounter with police on Tuesday morning.

Landhi DSP Pervez Iqbal said four men riding motorcycles were roaming in a suspicious manner in Ali Brohi Goth.

A police patrol signalled them to stop but the suspects started indiscriminate firing and tried to escape, he added.

The police returned fire and in the exchange of gunfire all four suspects sustained bullet wounds and three of them died on the spot, the DSP said, adding that their fourth accomplice escaped the scene.

The bodies were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where they were identified as Faisal Siddiqui, 28, Zarif Khan, 40, and Umar, 35.

The police claimed to have recovered a rifle, a repeater gun and a .30-bore pistol from the possession of the suspects.

They said that all the three men were nominated in the murder case of Head Constable Raza within the remit of the Shah Faisal Colony police station.

They had committed robberies and other crimes within the jurisdictions of other police stations, said the police.