Dacoits kill eight of a family in Sadiqabad

BAHAWALPUR/RAHIM YAR KHAN: Nine people including eight of the same family were shot dead by members of notorious ‘Janu Andarr gang’ near Chowk Mahi in tehsil Sadiqabad, district Rahim Yar Khan, on Sunday.

The victims were working on two petrol pumps of the area when the gangsters, riding on three motorbikes, opened indiscriminate firing on them. According to Sadiqabad police sources, the Andarr gang had been operating in Katcha area of the Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan border areas. Members of the gang came to Adda Chowk Mahi and shot dead eight people on-the-spot. Those killed were identified as: Nazir Ahmed (60), Munawar (30), Zaheer (25), Mohammad Sharif (18), Farooq Ahmed (18), Ghulam Nabi (60), Allah Daad (60), and Pir Bakhsh (45).

After the incident, the bodies and the injured were shifted to THQ Hospital Sadiqabad first, and later on to the Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Rahim Yar Khan. According to Assistant Commissioner Sadiqabad Kaleem Yousaf, one injured man later died in the hospital. Reportedly, the head of Andarr gang, Janu Andarr, on the social media, claimed the murder of eight of the family, declaring them as informers of the police.

Around three years ago, the police had shot dead six gangsters of the Andarr gang in an encounter during an operation in which one policeman was also martyred.

The Punjab Additional IGP issued a notice to the regional police officer and sought a report from him. District Police Officer Sadiqabad, along with histeam, visited the crime scene. Police said another man, Mohammad Raziq, had received a bullet in his leg.

After receiving information, a team of Sadiqabad Police Circle, led by DSP Abbas Akhtar and District Police Officer Asad Sarfraz, reached the spot and launched a search operation in the area.

Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and Additional IGP Punjab Captain (retd) Zafar Iqbal have sought a report from RPO Bahawalpur Zubair Ahmed Dareshak. The CM ordered the police to arrest the gang members at the earliest.