HYDERABAD: Armed assailants riding a motorcycle opened fire on two policemen leaving one of them dead and the other wounded on Fatima Jinnah Road late on Thursday night, Makki Shah police said on Friday.

The police said that the motive for the attack was unclear but it seemed to be a targeted attack.

Makki Shah SHO Qadir Bukhsh said Riaz Ahmed Awan, 30, son of Kalai Khan, and Aijaz Tanoli, 32, son of Ali Asghar Khan, were posted at the SITE police station. They were on their patrolling duty on a motorcycle when ambushed by the assailants, he said.

However, SITE SHO Irfan Shah said they were returning home after performing their duties near SP Chowk, the venue of the MQM’s protest sit-in, when attacked by the armed men.

Riaz Awan received a single bullet to his temple and Aijaz Tanoli was hit by two bullets in the shoulders.

They were taken to the Liaquat University Hospital, where Mr Awan succumbed to his wounds and Mr Tanoli was admitted to the ICU.

IG worried

IGP Sindh Iqbal Mehmood has said there should be zero tolerance to extremism and all its manifestations and urged police officers to be prepared to handle all kinds of situations “as the days of conventional policing are over”.

A senior police official told Dawn after the IGP’s meeting with SSPs and DSPs of Hyderabad range at Shahbaz Hall on Friday that the IGP was worried over a recent spate of killings of policemen in Hyderabad and called for early arrest of culprits so that the force should not get demoralised.

DIG Dr Sanaullah Abbasi gave a detailed briefing to the IGP Sindh on the issues of illegal immigrants, inclusion of 35 individuals’ names in the ATA’s fourth schedule, influx of IDPs in lower Sindh region and extremism, said the official.

“IGP said that in the present situation we are not doing normal policing so everyone has to be ready to face all kinds of situation,” said another officer.

He told delegations of the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Anjuman Tajiran Hyderabad that the city’s rapid response force would be given bulletproof jackets and women police would be deployed in Resham Bazaar, he said.

The IGP said that five police mobile vans would be provided to Hyderabad districts.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2014