Attacking uniforms: Police link cop killings with Zarb-e-Azab, sectarianism

Two Pindi policemen guarding imambargah killed on Monday night, as many injured.

ISLAMABAD:

The police declared the shooting incident in which two police constables were killed and three others injured outside an imambargah in Rawapindi late Monday night as targeted killing and termed it blowback of Zarb-e-Azb and part of sectarian violence in Muharram.

Two constables were killed and two injured on Monday when three unidentified men riding a motorcycle opened fire on them while they were deputed outside an imambargah in the Sadiqabad area.



Assailants attacked a police barricade placed to guard a majlis in Rizvia Hall near Bilal Hospital in Sadiqabad. The main target appeared to be mourners present inside the imambargah.

“It was an act of targetted killing,” said the Superintendent of Police (SP) Rawal Division, Malik Karamat. The SP was quick to add that neither has claimed responsibility for the attack nor has anyone been identified so far.

Karamat revealed that a 9mm pistol was used in the shooting and police have collected 13 to 14 shells from the crime scene, adding that sketches of the culprits were being made. “We will release sketches today,” he said.

He said a team under his supervision comprising SP investigation, a DSP and the station house officers of Sadiqabad and New Town police has been constituted to probe the incident. He urged locals to come forward and help police in identifying the culprits behind the incident.

According to a spokesperson of the Rawalpindi police, constable Muhammad Waheed and Qamar Shah were killed on the spot while two other constables, Adeel and Yasir, were injured in the firing outside the Rizvia Hall Imam Bargah. The spokesperson said Yasir was critically injured as two bullets hit him in the neck, adding that Adeel was shot in the back once.

Rescue sources added that 19-year-old civilian Muhammad Rizwan suffered a gunshot wound to the head.

The bodies were taken to DHQ hospital while the injured were rushed to Benazir Bhutto Hospital at the time of the incident.

Bomb hoax

On Tuesday, the police received a bomb threat from an unidentified caller. Bomb disposal officials checked the area and determined it was a hoax.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2014.