LARKANA, Oct 23: Police in an ‘encounter’ near Sujawal town on Wednesday recovered a girl who had been kidnapped from Latifabad, Hyderabad.

Police sources said that a man, Hadi Bakhsh Lohar, had kidnapped the girl from Hyderabad about a month back and ever since had kept her in the Mohammad Murad Lohar village, Sujawal town.

The police came to know about the place where the girl was being kept from Ghous Bakhsh Lohar, a friend of the kidnapper. So the police led by Sub-Inspector Lal Bakhsh Lashari of the investigation police, Hyderabad, raided the village to recover the girl but came under fire. The police retaliated.

In the exchange of fire, a policeman, Abdul Latif Kerio, and the girl’s mother, Ms Noor Bano, were injured. Police recovered the kidnapped girl but her kidnapper managed to escape. Ghaus Bakhsh Lohar was arrested.

Police also arrested Ahmed Sultan Lohar who too was injured in the encounter, said the sources.

The injured were taken to the Chandka Medical College Teaching Hospital.

Police sources said that the girl was being kept at a women’s police station.

SI Lashari had lodged an FIR against 10 people including Ahmed Sultan Lohar and Hadi Bakhsh Lohar with the Mirokhan police station.

MAN KILLED: A passenger, Shahbazdino Shahani, was killed and three others were injured when a Larkana-bound bus collided head-on with a tractor on the Mirokhan Road on the outskirts of Larkana city on Wednesday.

All the injured were admitted to the Chandka Medical College Teaching Hospital.

The drivers of both the vehicles fled immediately.

PROTEST HELD: At least 60 municipal employees, led by their president, Rasool Bakhsh Shahani, held a protest rally against the arrest of four municipal employees in Dadu on Wednesday.

They took out a procession from the municipal office and after marching on the main streets converged at the district assembly hall.

They demanded for the early release of their colleagues. They also demanded that their salaries be provided soon.