SUKKUR: The Sukkur police gunned down four suspects on Sunday night hours after armed outlaws shot dead three brothers in the Takrano area of Pannu Aqil.

Sukkur SSP Azhar Khan Mughal told the media that the outlaws had shot dead the three brothers — Ahmed Ali, Nisar Ahmed and Abdul Hafeez —

when they resisted the outlaws’ attempt to snatch their motorcycle.

The killers sped away into the dense sugar cane fields within the Takrano area, which falls in the jurisdiction of the Mubarakpur police station of Pannu Aqil taluka.

The area police said that the armed men had intercepted the victims, who belonged to the Mahar community and happened to be nephews of a journalist. They were four outlaws who opened fire when the brothers put up resistance to the outlaws’ attempt to snatch their motorcycles and other belongings, the police said.

Upon receiving the information, police proceeded to the site and transported the victims to the Pannu Aqil Taluka Hospital but two of them had already died on the way, they said. The third brother also succumbed to his injuries during treatment, they added.

Soon after the incident, a large number of villagers along with police went after the fleeing robbers and engaged them in a shootout as they opened fire. The SSP said he himself led the police force drawn from several police stations. The entire area of the sugar cane field was cordoned off to prevent them from slipping away, the SSP said.

The encounter continued whole the night, and at about dawn, the four outlaws were found dead, he added.

Later, the killed suspects were identified as Abid Bhatti, Yaqeen Mahar, Ashiq Ali Sheikh and Peero Mahar.

The police claimed to have found one Kalashnikov, three TT pistols and three stolen motorcycles lying beside their bodies.

They said the suspects were wanted by police in several cases of heinous crime, including robbery and police encounters.

They said that police were collecting their criminal records from different police stations.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2025