SUKKUR March 8: A man was killed and four others, including three women, were injured on Saturday after bandits kidnapped three bus passengers and used them as human shields in a shootout with the police on the Indus Highway near Tangwani in Jacobabad district.

Bandits, who used rockets and other heavy weaponry, heavily damaged one of the armoured personnel carriers and a mobile vehicle of the Bahoo Khoso police before taking away some weapons and two wireless sets from both the vehicles.

Police claimed that they had injured three of the bandits during the shootout but they managed to escape towards Balochistan.

The incident occurred after a group of armed bandits, believed to be 15 in number, blocked the Indus Highway and stopped two passenger busses (QAF-4667 and QAE-2747). Both of them had originated from Quetta and were on their way to Punjab.

Bandits looted the busses after taking some 80 passengers from the two busses hostage.

Later, bandits took away three of the passengers — Imran, Ghulam Rasool and another, whose identity could not be ascertained, as hostages.

In the meantime, a heavy police contingent chased the bandits before a shootout took place near Shahi Wah.

One of the hostages, Ghulam Rasool, son of Noor Mohammed, a resident of Multan, was killed in the encounter.

Bandits resorted to firing rockets on the police as a result Faiz Mohammed, Anwer Khatoon, daughter of Nabi Bukhsh, and two other women were injured in two of the houses located nearby.

Meanwhile, hundreds of passengers of the seven busses, travelling behind the two busses, which were looted, blocked the Indus Highway for at least three hours and stage a protest against the police inefficiency. These busses were coming from Quetta.

Later, the DIG (operations), pacified the protesters and assured them protection and safe journey.

The whereabouts of the two remaining passengers, used by the bandits as human shields, still remain unknown.

According to the latest reports, police have returned without any success.