Fatal encounter: Two cops killed, two injured in shootout

Suspect, a proclaimed offender, escapes.

FAISALABAD:

Two policemen were killed and two injured in a shootout with a proclaimed offender in Jhang Saddar area on Tuesday morning.

The deceased were identified as Assistant Sub Inspector Muhammad Arif and Head Constable Jafar Sipra.

Sub Inspector Zafar Abbas Pethorana, who was leading the raid, and constable Shehbaz Husain also suffered bullet injuries and were later taken to district headquarters (DHQ) hospital where doctors described their condition as critical.

The raid was arranged after Saddar police were tipped off about Noor Akbar Bharwana’s presence at his dera near Makhiyana police post.

SI Pethorana, in charge of the police post, and three other officials at the post were sent to arrest the suspect, who managed to escape following the shootout in which the ASI and the head constable were killed.

A Saddar police team that was rushed to the scene after learning about the shootout stated that the proclaimed offender and his accomplices had fled by the time they reached the dera.

They cordoned off the area and carried out a search operation but failed to track down the suspect. Jhang District Police Officer (DPO) and the Saddar Circle DSP supervised the search operation.

Bharwana was wanted in several cases registered with Saddar police under Sections 307 (where qisas for qatl-i-amd cannot be enforced), 337 (causing injury) and 338-A (causing abortion) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Jail warden killed in robbery, seven others injured  

A jail warden was killed and seven others, including the assistant superintendent of a borstal jail, injured in a robbery on Tuesday.

The robbers took away Rs2.4 million the jail officials had picked minutes ago from the State Bank of Pakistan branch on Jaranwala Road. The deceased warden was identified as Muhammad Tahir.

The injured, including Assistant Superintendent Muhammad Asif and two passers-by Sana Tanveer and Arif Ahmed, were taken to a nearby hospital where doctors described their condition as critical.

Others injured in the incident were identified as Driver Muhammad Imran, Wardens Abdur Rauf, Mubashar Saleem and Muhammad Nawaz.

The jail van the officials were riding was intercepted by four armed men near Koh-i-Noor Chowk on Jaranwala Road, while the officials were headed for the borstal jail.

The robbers opened fire as jail officials resisted their attempt to snatch the cash, killing Warden Tahir on the spot.

Two teams were later formed to track down the robbers, one led by a Crime Investigation Agency SP and the other by a Madina Town SP.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2012.