Wrong target: Two Rangers personnel injured in attempted robbery

Officials rule out the possibility of terrorist involvement.


Our Correspondent July 15, 2013
"The incident occurred when the robbers tried to intercept the Rangers personnel and opened fire at them mistaking them to be citizens," DSP Khalid Khan. PHOTO: EXPRESS

KARACHI: Two paramilitary soldiers were injured in an attack near a Rangers check post on Abul Hassan Isphani Road, opposite al-Asif Square in Sohrab Goth, on Sunday night.

The incident occurred when two personnel of Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, who were deployed at the Rangers check post at Abul Hassan Isphani Road, were travelling on a motorcycle towards their check post. According to law enforcers, the soldiers came under attack near Gulzar-e-Hijri police station when unidentified armed men opened fire at them.

In the ensuing fire, both personnel were shot multiple times and were taken to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) for treatment. Doctors said that both the soldiers were in critical condition.

Following the incident, Rangers and police personnel, deployed at the nearby check posts, immediately reached the site but the culprits managed to escape.

In a similar incident in December 2012, two Rangers personnel were killed when a Rangers check post at the same site was attacked by unidentified gunmen. This time, however, paramilitary and police officials ruled out the possibility of terrorists’ involvement behind the incident, saying that the motive this time was of a different nature.



“The incident occurred when our sepoys were returning to the post with food for Sehri,” said a Rangers official, while speaking to The Express Tribune. “They were attacked by a group of robbers with the intention of robbing them. It was not a case of terrorism,” he said.

Following the incident, an extra contingent of Rangers and police was summoned to the site to conduct a targeted operation in Sikander Goth and its adjoining areas to apprehend the suspects involved in the attack.

The operation lasted at least four hours and resulted in the arrests of more than one-and-a-half-dozen suspects. The suspects were shifted to an undisclosed location for further questioning.

DSP Khalid Khan, while speaking to The Express Tribune, said that the suspects behind the attack on the soldiers were among the detainees and that weapons were also seized from their possession during the operation.

“The incident occurred when the robbers tried to intercept the Rangers personnel and opened fire at them mistaking them to be citizens,” said DSP Khan. “When they saw the approaching motorcycle, they tried to rob the riders and opened fire at them without realising that they were actually paramilitary soldiers,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16th, 2013.

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