Pakistan: Five policemen killed in firefight with notorious robbers
Former president Zardari announces 10m Pakistani rupee package for the families of the law enforcement officials killed in line of duty
Karachi: Two police officers and three constables gunned down three notorious robbers in interior Sindh province before they were killed in night-long violence in a southern Pakistan city on Saturday.
Contingents of police from Hyderabad, Matiari, and other adjacent towns were summoned to Mirpurkhas, 240km north-east of Karachi, after the police were informed that notorious robber Chota Narejo along with the other members of his gang was hiding in a residential bungalow.
The police besieged the area and the firefight began around midnight. Sanaullah Abbasi, the deputy inspector-general of Hyderabad told the media that the robbers had taken women and children as hostages to use them as shields. The firefight continued until 7am.
In the exchange of fire, two station house officers (SHOs) Hasan Ali Abdi and Wahid Bakhsh Leghari were killed. In addition, three police constables — Abdul Jabbar Shaikh, Dibar Unar and Jamil Shah — were also lost their lives in the encounter, the police said.
The three robbers — Abdul Wahab alias Chota Narejo, Saleem and Zulfiqar — were killed in the firefight.
Former president Asif Ali Zardari announced a package of 10 million rupees (Dh360,583) for the families of the police officials. Commending the policemen, Zardari said that their sacrifices were highly appreciated in the quest to establish peace in the province.
Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah also called the families of the slain policemen and offered his condolences.
The funeral prayers for the policemen were offered at the police line in Hyderabad. Leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and ordinary members of the public join senior police officials in the prayers.
Meanwhile in Karachi, a bomb disposal squad defused a bomb weighing about three kilograms that had been kept at the Qalandaria Chowk in Nazimabad town. The bomb had been planted encased in a cement block and inscribed with the words “Sharia or martyrdom,” by the Al Qaida South Asia chapter.
The bomb was defused on Saturday morning after an overnight deadly terrorist attack on a Shiite mosque in garrison city of Rawalpindi. At least seven people died in the attack.
