KARACHI, Jan 13: Due to alleged negligence by policemen a colleague of theirs was killed and two other policemen were wounded in Malir on Monday when suspected criminals attacked policemen with explosives and gunfire after they snatched a sub-machinegun from one of the policemen, in their successful attempt to escape.

Police said sub-inspector Abdur Rauf, head constable Mohammed Rafiq, of the investigation wing, and constable Mehboob, of the operation wing, following information raided a place in Malir and arrested five suspected car hijackers and recovered a hijacked car (AAA-445), that carried a fake registration number, from their possession. The original registration number of the car was AAB-588 and it was hijacked in Bahadurabad. An FIR 05/2003 was registered at the area police station in this regard.

Three of the suspects were identified as Mohammed Laiq, Kashif alias Mota and Javed alias Kala. The policemen took them to Saudabad police station in the recovered car. As they alighted from the car, two of the suspects hurled explosives on the policemen, snatched a sub-machinegun from one of the policemen and opened indiscriminate fire. Constable Mehboob died in the firing. SI Rauf and head constable Rafiq were wounded. Two of the suspects hijacked a motorcycle from a passerby and drove off, while another three of them ran away.

DIG Investigation Fayyaz Leghari told Dawn that the policemen committed a mistake as they frisked three of the suspects and recovered three TT pistols from them, but they did not carry out the body search of the other two suspects. As the suspects got down from the car, two of them, who might have kept some explosives hidden on their persons, hurled explosives on policemen to create panic. The suspects snatched an official SMG from one of the policemen, opened fired on policemen and escaped. “It was not a grenade as the policemen suffered bullet wounds, not injuries from shrapnel,” he added.

“It was negligence on the part of the policemen,” he said.