Four Rangers shot dead in Karachi

KARACHI: Four paramilitary soldiers serving Sindh Rangers were killed on Friday when their vehicle came under attack near a seminary and mosque complex in Karachi’s Baldia Town neighbourhood.

According to police official Shakeel Sherwani, it was around 1:45pm when armed attackers opened fire on the Rangers personnel deployed on security duty outside Jamia Abu Hurrairah, located in the Ittehad Town area of the locality.

“It is confirmed that they were on motorcycle but we are not sure about their number,” said Sherwani, adding that as a result of firing two of the soldiers died on the spot while the remaining two succumbed to their injuries after reaching hospital. “The Rangers vehicle was usually stationed outside the mosque to provide security during Friday prayers,” he said.

Initial reports revealed the assailants used 9mm pistols in the attack. The police have also recovered empty shells of bullets and sent them to the forensic division of the Sindh Police. No case was registered till the filing of this report.

After the attack heavy contingents of police and Rangers rushed to the spot and threw a cordon around the crime scene.  Rescuers from different welfare organisations also reached the site and shifted the bodies and the injured to a nearby private hospital. Later, the bodies were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for autopsies.

The funeral prayers of the troops – identified as Ishtiaq, Qasim, Akhtar Ali and Shahid – were offered at the Rangers Training College after Maghrib prayers. The prayers were attended by a large number of officials, including Karachi corps commander, DG Rangers and additional IG Karachi.

Talking to reporters during his visit to the site, Sindh Rangers Director-General Major General Bilal Akbar said the assailants probably wanted to attack the mosque. “But on seeing the Rangers’ security, they resorted to firing at the personnel,” he said. DG Rangers vowed to apprehend those behind the attack. “We will arrest the attackers and bring them to their logical end,” he said.

Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal have taken notice of the incident and ordered the Sindh IG Police Ghulam Hyder Jamali to apprehend the culprits. They expressed sorrow over the incident and said the operation against terrorists will continue.

The place where the attack took place has a mixed population. Since the start of the surgical operation in Karachi in September 2013, the police and Rangers had conducted several raids in the area and killed and arrested a number of militants, gangsters and street criminals hiding in the locality.

This is the second major attack on the paramilitary force in Karachi in the last eight months.  In March, two Rangers men as well as a couple of passers-by had lost their lives when a suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into the Rangers’ mobile in the city’s North Nazimabad locality.

Since the start of Karachi operation, at least 31 Rangers’ personnel – including these four troops – have so far lost their lives. Over 265 policemen have also laid down their lives in the last two years.


Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2015.