Five men butchered in brazen attack on van

At least five people, including three members of a family, were killed and four others injured when men on motorcycles opened fire at a passenger van in Landianwala area on Sunday.

One of the deceased family members had been nominated in a murder case and released from jail a few days ago.

Rescue 1122 personnel shifted the injured to Nankana Hospital for treatment after giving the urgent medical aid.

After the incident, relatives of the deceased blocked the Jaranwala-Nankana road, chanted slogans against police and demanded immediate arrest of the killers.

Upon receiving reports about the incident, senior police officers, including the CPO of Faisalabad, SSP operation and Jaranwala SP reached the spot and formed teams to arrest the attackers. The regional police officer also took notice of the incident and ordered the CPO to arrest the accused immediately.

The passenger van en route from Jaranwala to Nankana was near Chak No. 562GB area of Landianwala when it was stopped by two men on a motorcycle who opened indiscriminate fire at it with Kalashnikovs.

As a result, 35-year-old Idrees, a resident of Chak No. 563GB, his 38-year-old brother Muhammad Rauf, 40-year-old nephew Muhammad Hasnain, son of Abdul Hameed, 30-year-old driver Sujawal, son of Dilawar Ali, and 38-year-old passenger Arif Ali, a resident of Gujranwala, died on the spot.

The passengers who were injured included 56-year-old Ikram, son of Asghar, resident of Kot Abdul Malik, 60-year-old Ashraf, son of Ismail, resident of Muridke, Sheikhupura, 50-year-old Khalil, son of Rafiq, a resident of Chak No. 563GB Bachiana, and Muhammad Qasim, son of Jafar, resident of Ghalla Mandi, Nankana.

According to police sources, Hasnain had been released from jail where he was facing the charge of murdering Rana Amin, a resident of his village.

In retaliation, Amin’s relatives opened fire at the vehicle, killing five people, including Hasnain and his two uncles, the sources claimed.

The relatives of the deceased said during the protest on the road that been receiving death threats but Landianwala Police Station SHO Manazar Luk had not taken any action on their complaints.

After the protesters blocked the road, Faisalabad CPO Sohail Chaudhry, SSP Operation Syed Ali Raza Bukhari and the SP and ASP of Jaranwala reached the spot with a heavy contingent of police.

They shifted the bodies to Jaranwala Hospital for postmortem and held talks with the protesters. The protesters ended the road blockade after negotiations with the police.

The protest caused long queues of vehicles on the road.

RPO Rifat Mukhtar Raja sought a report on the incident from the CPO and formed teams to arrest the accused, which were conducting raids to apprehend them. Fear and panic spread in the area after the firing on the van.