Brazen attack: Two killed, two injured while transporting prisoner

The suspect was being shifted to Attock Jail from Rawalpindi.

ATTOCK/ RAWALPINDI:

A prisoner being transported to Attock Jail from Rawalpindi was freed in a brazen attack by an armed group on Sunday that left a police constable and a taxi driver dead and two others injured.

According to Attock District Police Officer (DPO) Hilal Khan, three police officials of Rawalpindi City Police were transporting a suspected drug smuggler and motorbike lifter, Amjad Khan, to Attock Jail on a taxicab when they were intercepted by four armed men near Teen Mila Chowk.

He said that Constable Najamul Hassan and taxi driver Mudasar Ghiyas were shot dead, while Constable Ashfaque Ahmed and Sub-Inspector Jameel Ahmed Shah received multiple bullet injuries. The armed men managed to flee along with the convict on motorcycles.

The DPO said that the dead and the injured were shifted to District Headquarter Hospital Rawalpindi. He said that Sub-Inspector Shah received three bullets in the leg and lower abdomen, whereas Constable Ahmed relieved two bullets in the chest.

When inquired, he said that the taxicab was hired by the police party on the spot.

The DPO added that criminal case will be registered against four unidentified men for murder, attempted murder and police encounter after required legal formalities are completed. He said the bodies will be handed over after to the families after post-mortem.

Rawalpindi City Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Malik Umer Hayat, told The Express Tribune that Khan was arrested by Attock Khurd Police a few days back on drug smuggling charges. After verification, it was found that Khan was also wanted by the Rawalpindi City Police for lifting a motorbike from Liaqat Bagh, Rawalpindi. Khan had been taken to Rawalpindi on a transitory physical remand a day earlier and was being shifted to Attock Jail on a three-day judicial remand when the police party was attacked.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2012.