Attack on police turns out to be incident of terrorism

Patrol squads told to wear bulletproof jackets, helmets

KARACHI:

Monday’s attack on police in the Federal B Area turned out be an act of terrorism instead of a street crime, officials told The Express Tribune.

Policeman Amir Shahnawaz was critically injured in the firing on a police mobile in Block-22 of Federal B Area. Two citizens, Kamran Shah and Nasir Shah were also injured in crossfire.

Police shared the CCTV footage of the incident with the media. The footage shows five suspects riding three motorcycles blocking the road and opening fire on the police mobile with pistols.

The footage further showed three of the five attackers wearing helmets. While one of them is wearing a black suit, holding a pistol in one hand and a bag in the other hand can also be seen firing.

As soon as the police mobile took a turn, the accused got off the motorcycle and opened fire injuring Policeman Shahnawaz and two passersby, Kamran Shah and Nasir Ali.

Securing the security personnel

Following the incident of firing on a police mobile in Federal B Area, police authorities have issued security directives for police patrolling across the city. The directives have been ordered to be strictly implemented.

According to the directives issued by DIG South’s office, police personnel should wear bullet proof jacket and use helmet at all times while on patrol. All police mobiles will have a contingent of four policemen including the driver at all times.

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The directives further stated that the driver of the police mobile will carry a pistol with full magazine on duty at all times. At least one policeman in the mobile will carry a sub-machine gun with a full magazine, a policeman wearing a helmet and a bulletproof vest must stand with the SMG in the OP of the police mobile.

Moreover, the patrol pickup will not roam alone, two armed policemen on a motorcycle will tail it all the times. The bike team and the mobile squad will cover each other while jointly patrolling in their assigned area. As per the DIG office mobile squads of all precincts are required to stritly follow the directives.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2022.