Rape-murder suspect shot dead

Police claim man killed by bullet, fired by accomplice during an encounter at the hideout

ATTOCK:

Police on Wednesday claimed that a man accused of raping and killing a nine-year-old girl had been killed by a bullet fired by one of his accomplices during a police encounter.

As per a press release issued from the Attock police headquarters, one of the teams investigating the rape-murder case conducted a raid at a hideout near the Ghazi interchange after it came to know about the presence of the suspect.

As soon as the police team was spotted at the scene, the suspect along with his accomplices opened fire in a bid to escape the scene, the statement said.

During the shoot-out, the rape-murder suspect was hit by a bullet fired by one of his accomplices, the statement said, adding that the man died on the spot and his associates managed to flee from the scene.

The police said they had launched a hunt to apprehend the suspect's accomplices who were yet to be identified.

It is pertinent to mention here that a nine-year-old girl was raped and strangulated to death in the limits of the Hazro police station a few days ago. Following the horrific incident, Attock DPO Syed Khalid Hamdani had constituted different teams to arrest the culprit.

Behram Khan, an Afghan refugee, residing near village Nartopa, had told the Hazro police that his daughter Fatima Bibi along with her aunt Gulmakai had gone to attend a function in the neighbourhood.

When her aunt came back alone late at night, the family asked her why she was not accompanied by the girl. The woman, however, responded that Fatima had come back home a little earlier.

Behram Khan said they informed the woman that the girl had not returned home after which he along with his two brothers immediately went out in search of his daughter.

“In the nearby fields, we saw our neighbour Dost Muhammad, who on seeing us escaped from there. Then at a little distance, I saw the body of my daughter,” the father told the police.

On the complaint of Behram Khan, the police had registered a first-information report (FIR) and different teams were formed to arrest the culprit.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2021.