Arms fail to protect traffic police as another cop killed

Karachi
Just two days after traffic policemen received arms to protect themselves in the wake of four murders in a week, another traffic cop was killed and two others suffered injuries in an attack in the Shershah area late on Wednesday night.
Police constables Liaquat and Naveed and Head Constable Khushi Mohammad were injured when four gunmen riding motorbikes opened fire while they were performing duty at Gulbai Chowk and Atlas Honda Showroom nearby.
SSP Azfar Mahesar of District West said police attended the scene of the shooting and moved the injured to the Abbasi Shaheed Hoand Civil hospitals. Liaquat succumbed died from his wounds, while the other two injured were later shifted to a private hospital.
The police found bullet shells of a pistol from the crime scene, and sent them to the forensic division of the Sindh Police.
Talking to The News, DIG Amir Ahmed Shaikh of the Karachi Traffic Police condemned the attack.
He said the gunmen fired shots at two traffic cops at Gulbai Chowk before targeting Head Constable Khushi Mohammad near Atlas Honda Showroom.
He added that of the six traffic wardens present at Gulbai, one was armed with a submachine gun but he did not retaliate because the attackers had taken cover of members of the public present there.
DIG Shaikh said Sindh IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali spoke to him and directed that the standard operating procedure should be strictly followed by all traffic officials.
The SSPs, SPs, DSPs and section officers of the Traffic Police were told not to deploy traffic wardens in areas where they did have security cover.
After the killing of four traffic policemen in the city in a week, the authorities had decided on Monday to provide security cover to the traffic cops.
On Sunday, constables Sher Ali and Nizam Hussain were attacked in the parking lot of a Sunday bazaar in front of a departmental store on University Road in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. The policemen were posted at the Gulshan Traffic Section and deployed at the spot for clearing the way for traffic.
On August 25, constables Mohammed Ibrahim and Abdul Qayyum were busy snap-checking vehicles when four men riding motorcycles fired gunshots at them, leaving them in a pool of blood. The policemen were taken to the Jinnah Hospital where they succumbed to their injuries. — Salis bin Perwaiz