Armed suspects on Friday attacked a convoy of three police vans near Sangjiani Toll Plaza outside Islamabad, police said.

According to a statement from the Islamabad Police spokesperson, the vans were transferring 82 prisoners to Attock Jail after an appearance before the district magistrate earlier today. The 82 prisoners included two PTI lawmakers and four party workers.

“About 20 suspects riding in four vehicles attacked the prisoner vans near Sangjani Toll Plaza,” the statement read, adding that the suspected assailants were armed with weapons, sticks and stones.

“Four police officers were injured in the attack, while four attackers were arrested,” the statement added. “Two vehicles and weapons belonging to the suspects were seized.”

Teams were formed to arrest the suspects and police also started search operations in different areas, while all escaped prisoners were recaptured by police, according to the statement.

“The police teams handled the whole situation very bravely,” it added.

Court appearance

Earlier, District Magistrate Muhammad Azhar Nadeem presided over a hearing for the identification parade of the 82 suspects, dismissing the case as they had been presented in courts and, therefore, their identity was known to the police and the complainant.

According to the court’s order, which has been seen by Dawn.com, these suspects were arrested during the PTI’s rally in Islamabad on October 4. The counsel for the accused, Ansar Mehmood Kayani, said that 34 of them were police personnel while 42 included Rescue 1122 personnel. PTI MPAs Anwar Zeb and Malik Liaquat Khan are among the six arrested PTI members.

On October 4, at least 30 protesters were arrested as police fired tear gas to disperse PTI protesters attempting to reach Islamabad’s D-Chowk for a party rally, despite a ban on public gatherings.

“[The] request to send the accused for identification parade is declined and all of them are hereby discharged from the instant case,” said the court’s order. “They [are to be] be released forthwith if not required in any other case.”

‘PTI members will not run’

PTI MNA Sheikh Waqqas Akram issued a video statement condemning the attack on the convoy and alleging that policemen from Tarnol police station were behind the attack.

“I am speaking with regards to 82 of our people who were presented in court in an FIR (first information report) registered in Sangjiani and the judge discharged them,” he said in a video statement, posted by the party on X.

“When all of them in the FIR were discharged, they were named in another secretariat FIR and arrested again. Following that, they were being moved to Attock Jail in three prison vans.” Akram added that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa MPAs were among the 82 “party people”.

“When these people were being transferred to Attock Jail … suddenly, near Faisal Town, the vans were turned around and stopped within the jurisdiction of Tarnol police station,” Akram said.

“Tarnol SHO Shabbir Tanoli and his team broke the prison van windows, opened the doors and forcefully pulled out the prisoners and made them stand,” the MNA alleged. “Then, they urged them to run from there.”

Akram said that the PTI members are still present at the scene, where he claimed they told police, “We refuse to run”. He urged media persons to reach the scene and claimed that authorities would “try to trap our people in another case … another FIR”.

“We strongly condemn this, and our KP government and our people will take strict action against this,” Akram warned. “We will not forgive any actions of this sort.”

‘Planned-out attack’

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar delivered a televised address alleging that the attack was carried out by the PTI to free the prisoners and warned that the suspected attackers would be arrested.

“This was a planned-out attack,” Tarar said. “As a result of the attack, KP MPA Liaquat Sahibzada and four suspects have been arrested and two cars and two weapons have been recovered from the attack.

“They fired on the police and tried to free the prisoners,” he maintained.

The information minister added that the PTI had a history of carrying out coordinated attacks, citing the May 9 riots as an example and reiterating that the PTI “follow the politics of violence.”

“When the prison van slowed down near Sanjgani Toll Plaza, the people in the four cars attacked them and tried to free the 82 prisoners,” Tarar continued.

“As a result, 19 of the 82 prisoners were rearrested and all 82 prisoners are back in police custody. Two police officials were injured in this, and police very bravely thwarted this plot.”

The information minister vowed to take strict legal action and warned that the suspects would be “made an example of”. He warned, “Action is being taken against the MPA’s son who was involved in this and the other convicts [who] have been identified.”

“This PTI narrative seems like a film story, that the police opened the door and said ‘run, go be free, we’re freeing you’”, Tarar said. “They only have CCTV footage of the toll plaza of the attacks. The spokesperson should be ashamed of saying such a big lie and that other than lying, deceit and trickery they have nothing else to do.”

“[The] writ of the state will be established in any case,” the minister reiterated, citing how those involved in the 2021 Capitol Riots in Washington were imprisoned for 20 years and those involved in the riots in the UK over the summer were imprisoned for 15.

“If the May 9 rioters, who challenged the writ of the state, attacked our defence structures if they had been punished, they wouldn’t have had the nerve to carry out an attack like this today,” he added.