Two police officials killed in capital picket attack

ASI Zafar had arrested an armed man shortly before the attack

ISLAMABAD: Two officers of the Islamabad Police, including an ASI, were killed when unidentified armed suspects allegedly attacked a picket within the remits of the Tarnol police station.

Police officials told The Express Tribune that the 27-year-old ASI Mohsin Zafar and Head Constable Muhammad Sajjad were deployed at the Chungi 26 picket.

On Tuesday evening, two unidentified armed suspects approached the picket. They were motioned to stop by the officers. Instead of stopping, the assailants opened fire at the officers and fled.

As a result, Zafar and Sajjad suffered fatal wounds and died on the spot.

Soon after the incident, senior officers of Islamabad Police rushed to the site and cordoned off the area. A large contingent of police personnel was also deployed. A subsequent search operation failed to find any of the suspects.

Bodies of both victims were shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) for a post-mortem, the officials said, adding that their funeral prayers will be offered at the Rawalpindi Police Lines on Wednesday (today).

The report of the attack came only a short while after sources said that ASI Zafar had arrested an armed suspect during snap checking at the picket. A police constable had departed along with the suspect to move him to the police station and in the meantime, the incident took place. Tarnol SHO Inspector Arshad Ali said that they had found casings for at least 25 bullets from the crime scene, which shows that the attack was quite intense.

Meanwhile, Operations DIG Waqaruddin Syed ordered Saddar SP to submit a detailed report on the incident and to arrest the suspects at the earliest. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2020.