KARACHI: A 16-year-old youth was caught in crossfire during, what police said, an ‘encounter’ in which three suspects were gunned down in the old city area of the city late Tuesday night. A passer-by was wounded in the clash, the police said on Wednesday.

Giving details of the alleged encounter, the police said that two policemen riding a motorbike signalled the three suspects, also riding a motorcycle, to stop for checking in Marwari Lane. Instead, the suspects opened fire on the policemen and tried to speed away.

The policemen chased them into the nearby Ghas Mandi area and challenged them. In the ensuing exchange of fire, the suspects were gunned down and a passer-by, Mohammed Umair, was also caught in crossfire and died, they said.

Sixteen-year-old Umair was standing outside his home when a bullet, allegedly fired by the suspects, hit him on his head which proved fatal, said SHO Naseer Tanoli of the Eidgah police station.

Law enforcers claim 16-year-old Umair sustained a bullet fired by suspects

A passer-by. Murtaza Riaz, 23, sustained bullet wounds in his leg during the clash.

The bodies and injured victims were shifted to the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi.

The police claimed to have seized three TT pistols from the dead suspects and impounded their motorcycles.

The deceased suspects were identified as Abdul Khaliq, Hasan Anwar and Hanif Mohammed, all residents of Machhar Colony. The police claimed that the suspects had criminal record.

Schoolgirl knocked down

A teenage girl student was killed in a road accident at Cantonment Station roundabout on Wednesday, according to police.

SHO Safdar Mashwani of the Saddar police station said that Nida Fatima, 17, was on her way to the F.G. Minwala Girls Public School, Karachi Cantt., when apparently an over-speeding Hasan Zai Coach ran her over. She was taken to a nearby Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where doctors pronounced her dead. The officer said that the errant driver was arrested and the vehicle seized.

Body of six-year-old boy found

The body of a boy aged about six-seven years was found dumped at a deserted place near a bridge within the Port Qasim area, according to police.

SHO Zubair Nawaz of the Sukhan police station said that the body, wrapped in a bedsheet, was dumped in a dried up drain. It bore wounds on his back which had blackened apparently due its having been thrown into the drain, opined the SHO. He said it appeared that the boy was killed somewhere else and later on his body was thrown at this site.

The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre to ascertain the boy’s identity. A motive behind his murder was unclear, said the officer.

Labourer dies in factory fire

A worker died and his colleague was injured when a big fire broke out in a factory in the industrial area of SITE, according to officials.

A fire brigade official said that the blaze erupted in a textile mill near Habib Bank Chowrangi at around 17:15pm. Six fire tenders and one bowser managed to control it after hectic efforts lasting more than one hour. The fireman said that one labourer died another one was injured but their identity could not be ascertained.

Three ‘missing’ seminary pupils recovered

The Anti-Violent Crime Cell of the Police in collaboration with local police and Citizens-Police Liaison Committee safely recovered three seminary students whose kidnap FIR was lodged on Sept 23, said AVCC SSP Zeeshan Shafiq Siddiqi.

The officer said that the three teenage boys had gone missing from the seminary on Sept 23, and some unknown person had allegedly demanded a ransom for their release through a phone call. Thus, a kidnapping case was registered at the Brigade police station.

The AVCC team along with SP Jamshed Alina Rajpar conducted raids in different parts of the metropolis and recovered the boys, identified as Naseebullah, Aizaz and Mohammed Shahzad, students of ‘Imdadullah Mohajir Maki Masjid/seminary’.

The recovered boys told the police that no one had kidnapped them, rather they had gone into hiding to avoid study at the seminary and also they did not want to go back to their homes.

SSP Siddiqi said the police were trying to trace out the person who had made the ransom call.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2023