The Punjab police said on Friday it had killed the main culprit behind a rocket attack from dacoits in Rahim Yar Khan District’s Machka area that martyred 12 cops.

Organised criminal gangs have been active in the riverine border areas of southern Sindh and central Punjab for decades, often making money through kidnap-for-ransom assaults.

Two police vehicles carrying around 22 policemen were on their way back from a police camp in the Katcha (riverine) area, where recent rains had rendered the road extremely muddy, causing one of the vehicles to break down.

This is when the police party are said to have come under attack from dacoits, who fired rockets at the vehicles and then opened fire, martyring 11 policemen and injuring nine others. The death toll from the incident rose to 12 today.

Punjab Inspector General Dr Usman Anwar told Dawn that both Punjab and Sindh police had launched a historic operation in the riverine area, with 320 police personnel from Punjab on the ground, in addition to the force from Sindh police.

Today, the Punjab police said that in retaliation to yesterday’s attack, the main suspect had been killed while five of his accomplices had been injured.

“Punjab police retaliated in response to the attack by terrorists in the kutcha areas. The main suspect who attacked policemen yesterday, Bashir Shar, has reached his logical end,” the police announced today in a post on X.

“During the Punjab police’s action, five accomplices of dacoit Bashir Shar — dacoits Sanaullah Shar, Gada Ali, Kamlu Shar, Ramzan Shar, and Gadi — were also injured,” the police added.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz had directed IG Anwar and other senior officials to head to Rahim Yar Khan to deal with the situation. Her Sindh counterpart Murad Ali Shah has also instructed his provincial police chief to establish contact with the Punjab Police, asking him to extend to them any assistance required.

CM Maryam also directed the Punjab home secretary to initiate an immediate operation in the Katcha areas, according to a post on X by her PML-N party.

“She has directed that a swift and effective response be given to the dacoits, with the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Punjab leading the operation,” the PML-N said.

Meanwhile, the number of policemen martyred in the attack has risen to 12.

“At least twelve policemen were martyred, and eight others injured in the attack,” police spokesperson Saif Ali Wains told AFP.

Wains said the gang then used rocket launchers to target the stranded policemen.

The military had launched a full-scale operation against criminal gangs in Sindh in the early 1990s but they resurfaced after successive governments failed to maintain law and order in the province.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had ordered “immediate and effective action” against the attackers, his office said in a statement on Thursday.

The funeral prayers of the martyred policemen were offered in Rahim Yar Khan in the afternoon.

The prayers were attended by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi as well as civil and military leaders, PTV News reported. Tributes were paid to the martyred cops and funeral wreaths were offered before the bodies were departed for the policemen’s hometowns.

Fool-proof security ordered in Sindh

Separately, in view of the Rahim Yar Khan attack, Sindh Interior Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar directed the police to remain extremely alert and ensure fool-proof security across the province.

“Security measures should be made extremely concrete and extraordinary at every level, on the occasion of Friday,” Lanjar said in a statement.

He ordered that police deployment at major mosques, imambargahs and Friday prayers be kept prominent. The minister also ordered that police patrolling, snap-checking and other security measures be put in place near gatherings for Friday prayers.

Additional reporting by Imtiaz Ali, Imran Gabol