RAWALPINDI: A police official who was injured critically during an encounter with hardened criminals on Friday lost life at Benazir Bhutto Hospital on Saturday.

Inspector General of Police Punjab Dr Usman Anwar paid tribute to the martyred head constable Irtfa Ali and said that they stand with the family of the martyr in this hour of grief and his family’s welfare will be the top priority of police.

A police head constable Irtfa Al, 32, was injured in the firing of criminals during the operation in the area of the Airport Police station on Friday. A wanted criminal, identified by the police as Dilbar was killed and a police official was injured during the encounter. The head constable was undergoing treatment in the hospital but he succumbed to his injuries on Saturday, said a police spokesman.

City Police Officer Syed Khalid Hamdani said that they stand with the family of the martyr in this hour of grief. Rawalpindi Police will not hesitate to make any sacrifice while performing their duties.

The police have lodged an FIR against the criminals on the charges of section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATC), murder and other relevant sections of the law and launched a search for the escapees.

A police spokesman said that a group of suspects opened fire on a police party in the airport police station area, resulting in the injuries to police head constable Irtfa Ali and killing a suspect during the fire. The dead suspect was identified as Dilbar, who had a record in robbery cases and was an informant in an attempted murder case, said the spokesman.

According to police, the suspect Dilbar was overpowered by head constable Irtfa during the raid, but he fired a gunshot on the thigh of Irtfa which caused him severe bleeding. However, the injured was rushed to the BBH where he succumbed to his injuries on Saturday.

The martyred police official was a resident of Syed Kasran village of Jatli and got married two years ago. Irtfa had joined the police force in 2025.

The police party was present in the area for an operation, during which the suspects started firing on seeing the police party.

In 2024, 64 people had been killed during police ‘encounters’ what the police claimed were killed by co-accused.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2025