Coordinated attacks: Police try to put together puzzle in Hyderabad’s drive-by shootings

SSP Syed Irfan Bahadur says 28 suspects have been arrested in overnight raids.

HYDERABAD: Four coordinated attacks on policemen in Hyderabad on Tuesday, which left four police constables and a security guard dead, are being investigated from four different angles, said Hyderabad DIG Naeem Akram Bharokha.

“We have a couple of leads while three to four theories [behind the killings] are being investigated,” the DIG informed the media on Wednesday after the funeral ceremony of the deceased policemen at the police headquarters.

Four police constables of A-section police station were killed and a teenage boy suffered injuries in an attack in Latifabad on Tuesday evening. Separately, a private security guard of a beauty parlour was killed in another attack in Latifabad Unit-2. Meanwhile, two police constables of Sakhi Pir police station were injured in an attack in Liaquat Colony. Another teenage boy also suffered gunshot wounds in an attack on the police in Liberty Chowk. The assailants carried out these four separate attacks within a span of 15 minutes.



According to SSP Syed Irfan Bahadur, the assailants used 9MM pistols and they rode CG-125 motorcycles.

According to the DIG, initial investigations suggests that elements at local level are involved in the incident as no connection with the recent wave of terrorism can be traced.

“The way policemen were killed was a message from the criminals, yet it cannot be directly linked to any transfer or postings [at this stage],” he replied, when asked how the attacks relate the posting of SSP Bahadur. Yet, the DIG admitted that the killings could be a reaction to the open warning the new SSP gave to criminal elements and terrorists after assuming charge.

The SSP said that 28 suspects have been arrested in overnight raids. Their identities were, however, not disclosed. The incidents happened within the limits of four police stations but no FIRs have been registered so far.

Witness Protection

At least three persons who came to Bhitai Hospital in Latifabad, where the bodies were brought, claimed to be eyewitnesses. They told the media how three motorcyclists attacked the constables.

“One of the similarities in the attacks is that all of them were carried out in public places,” said the SSP. The police so far, however, have not provided protection to the witnesses which they are entitled to under Sindh Witness Protection Act, 2013. The DIG and the SSP could not be contacted for their versions on this issue.

Funeral

Hyderabad commissioner Jamal Mustafa Syed, DIG Bharokha, deputy commissioner Nawaz Soho, regional election commissioner Attaur Rehman and other officials as well as political leaders and civil society members attended the funeral.

The DIG announced Rs2 million as compensation to the families of each of the slain policemen. He also said that at least one person from these families will be given jobs in the police department.

The four deceased policemen are head constables Muhammad Ali Gholu, Mohammed Abid Shaikh, and Kamran Abbasi, and constable Imran. Gholu is survived by his widow and three children, Shaikh by his widow and five children, Abbasi by his widow and two children and Imran by his widow and a son.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2013.