Police volunteer, constable martyred in gun attacks

KARACHI: A volunteer of the Police Qaumi Razakar (PQR) and a police constable were martyred on Thursday in separate attacks at the Northern Bypass and in Ferozabad respectively.

A PQR volunteer was martyred and another injured when terrorists associated with the Ansarul Sharia Pakistan (ASP) opened fire on them near the SITE Super Highway police station’s post at the Northern Bypass.

Gadap Town SP Chaudhry Saifullah said Jamshed Bashir, 45, and Gulzar Azam, 40, were returning home after finishing their assigned duties at the post when a group of four terrorists on motorbikes attacked them.

The former died on the spot, while the latter went under the knife at the Aga Khan University Hospital and is now out of danger, he added. SP Saifullah said the two men were in police uniform, but in accordance with the policy relating to volunteers, they were not provided with weapons or vehicles.

He said that like their previous attacks, the ASP had left behind a leaflet, adding that the one left in Thursday’s attack claimed that the police volunteers were attacked because they were guilty of extorting the people.

Malir SSP Rao Anwaar said a policeman at the guard post of the checkpoint had fired at the attackers, but they escaped as a 22-wheeler trailer truck drove between the policemen and the attackers.

On the subject of the ASP’s claim in their leaflet, SSP Anwaar said the terrorist organisation was trying to divert the attention and direction of the investigators by levelling such absurd allegations.

In its earlier attacks on policemen in SITE Area, New Town and Korangi, the ASP had claimed that they were attacking law enforcers for harassing the people in the name of Operation Raddul Fasaad as well as for misbehaviour of jail officials with the outfit’s incarcerated accomplices.

Later, Sindh Home Minister Suhail Siyal asked after the injured PQR volunteer and met with his family. He assured them that the terrorists behind the attack would be brought to book soon. He also sought a report of the attack from Karachi police chief Addl IGP Ghulam Qadir Thebo.

Sindh police chief IGP AD Khowaja also took notice of the terrorist attack on the PQR volunteers and sought a detailed report from the relevant officials. Meanwhile, the provincial forensic science laboratory’s firearms section has confirmed that the empties found on the site of the Northern Bypass attack have matched with the empties gathered from the ASP’s previous attack sites in Baloch Colony and New Town.

SSP Anwaar said the weapon used in the attack on PQR volunteers had matched with the weapon used by the ASP in attacking the Pakistan Army’s retired colonel Tahir Nagi as well as in the assault on two policemen in New Town’s Dhoraji locality.

He said the spent bullet casings collected from the scene of the crime were sent to the forensic division, where the firearms section confirmed that the weapon used in the assault was used in two previous attacks. He pointed out that the only distinction between the ASP’s recent attack and its previous attacks was that they targeted the police volunteers on Thursday, while their previous assaults were carried out on a Friday.

In another incident on Thursday, as narrated by Ferozabad SHO Attaullah Qureshi, police constable Rehmatullah was carrying out snap checking at the Tipu Sultan traffic signal when he spotted a suspicious car parked on the opposite side of the road.

When the constable tried to approach the vehicle, he was shot at from inside the car, following which the vehicle sped away, added the SHO. He said the injured was taken to the Jinnah Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, adding that the constable was part of the newly formed cell for curbing street crime.