SHO martyred foiling highway robbery

Robbers blocked Shikarpur-Sukkur road, intercepted coach carrying passengers

HYDERABAD:

The police inspector who was fatally shot while trying to foil a highway robbery in Shikarpur district embraced martyrdom at a hospital in Sukkur in the wee hours of Friday. Khasmiso Khan Brohi, Station House Officer of Lakhi police station, was later laid to rest in a graveyard in his village Imam Brohi after his Namaz-e-Janaza at Shikarpur police lines where his dead body was also given a guard of honour.

Brohi, who served in the police force for over 33 years after his appointment in 1992, engaged robbers who were looting a passenger coach on Shikarpur-Sukkur road in exchange of fire. According to police officials, a coach carrying passengers from Nawabshah to Quetta was intercepted by the robbers who had blocked that road with some burning objects. They had also fired shots on the vehicles tyres.

The passengers told the cops that seven or more robbers held them hostage as they robbed them of their cash, jewellery, mobile phones and other belongings. Meanwhile, policemen led by the martyred SHO reached the spot around the same time but they were welcomed by a volley of gunshots fired from automatic rifles of the outlaws. The inspector was hit by a bullet in his abdomen after which he was rushed to Dr Ziauddin Hospital in Sukkur where he embraced martyrdom. The bandits, meanwhile, easily escaped without anyone of them reported hurt.

In reaction to the incident, Lakhi Subdivision's DSP Muhammad Ali Soomro led an operation to hunt the dacoits. Police traced their footprints leading to a riverine village near Mirzapur. Police also conducted search operation in Fakir Junejo village and in a few other villages. The DSP told the media that they have traced footprints of five suspects leading towards villages near Mirzapur.