Bandits kill two cops in Shikarpur kaccha area

Police had launched an operation to arrest the killers of a truck driver

HYDERABAD: In a foiled police operation in the kaccha, riverbed area of Indus river, in Shikarpur district late on Saturday night, bandits allegedly shot dead two policemen and injured five others. Shikarpur SSP Sajid Ameer Sadozai confirmed the casualties of five policemen, three of whom received gunshot injuries. Two private persons who accompanied the police were also hit by bullets.

Sadozai said that a heavy contingent of the police started an operation to arrest the killers of a truck driver, Manzoor Ahmed Mirani, from the Jatoi community. However, bandits in Chak area armed themselves with anti-aircraft guns and other advanced weaponry to repulse the police. The firing continued for about 20 minutes.

Reportedly, around 20 police mobiles and armoured personnel vehicles manned by policemen from over half a dozen police stations conducted the operation. The bullets which hit the martyred policemen pierced through the thick walls of the armoured police vehicle (APV).

The area where the police tried to conduct the operation is said to be a safe haven of dacoits. A policeman was killed in the same area on April 4 and few days ago, Mirani was also shot dead there.

The deceased have been identified as Lakhi Ghulam Shah Police Station SHO Ghulam Murtaza Mirani and Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Zulfikar Ali Panhwar. SHO Ayub Dogar, ASI Jehanzeb Memon, police constables Saddam Dayo and Rasool Bux and Saddam Hussain Marfani, a private gunman, sustained gunshot wounds and Baksh Ali Mirani, father-in-law of Manzoor Mirani, were injured.

Mirani and Panhwar breathed their last in a hospital in Sukkur where all seven were shifted in injured condition. Hospital sources informed that three of the injured are still in critical state.

The funeral prayer of Mirani was held in Khairpur city. He has been survived by his wife and four sons. Panhwar was laid to rest in a graveyard in Mehmood Panhwar village. Five sons and four daughters besides his wife have survived Panhwar. The SSP, who attended the funerals, announced two jobs of ASI and Rs10 million compensation for the two families.

Sukkur Additional Inspector General (AIG) Dr Jameel Ahmed told the local media that additional police force was sent to the area to conduct the operation but the assailants apparently fled the village.