Six killed in Punjab road mishap, police encounter
Pakistan Times National News Desk

MIANWALI: Four persons including a minor girl were killed while eight were injured in a head-on collision between two buses and a truck at Harnoli Police Check Post on Mianwali-Multan Road, 30 km from here Tuesday.

As the police says, two buses (Karachi J-6116) and (JP-9995) coming from Karachi were racing with each other. When a truck No RIJ-1996 coming from the opposite direction collided with the buses.

The dead

As a result, Manzoor Shah, Ahmed Khan, Sheik Iqbal and an eight years old Nimra daughter of Nur Muhammad of Larkana died on the spot.

The father of deceased Nimra and her mother, bus conductor Muzaffar and bus driver of JP-9995 Muhammad Nawaz, passengers- Muhamamd Ramzan, Zia ullah and Inayatullah received critical injuries. The injured were shifted to DHQ Hospital.

2 killed in police encounter, 2 hostages released

And a report from Multan says that a kidnapper and a hostage were killed while two other hostages were got released Tuesday after a 20-hour long hide-and-seek chase and firing encounter between police and the criminals at Nala Garang, a rocky area located in the precincts of Shahwali police station of district Rajanpur.

Police said, some 20 to 22 criminals riding some jeeps blocked Indus Highway between Mela More and Abdullah More where they allegedly robbed passengers of two buses of valuables besides snatching a pick-up and kidnapping three passengers.

Police was informed and a heavy contingent of police and Elite Force led by DSP Rojhan, DSP Sadar Rajanpur rushed to the spot where they noticed the criminals fleeing on their camouflaged jeeps carrying three hostages at around 6:40 pm on Monday.

Police started chasing them into the rocky and bushy area.

Exchange of fire continued in intervals during the chase in the area where the criminals took advantage of the darkness and hid themselves behind rocks or bushes and police would know their positions only when they fire or start their journey to escape.

"We had to even walk while chasing the accused in areas where passage was not fit for vehicles", a police official said by telephone.

The Hostage

One hostage namely Saeed Shah died after a jeep of the criminals went upside down. His body was found in the way. The camouflaged jeep of the criminals
besides the pick-up they had snatched from Indus Highway was recovered.

Police continued chasing for the whole night and the criminals were at last spotted in Nala Garang area at around 2:30 pm on Tuesday.

A firing encounter took place there leaving one of the criminals dead while some were injured who managed to escape. People identified the deceased as K2 Bugti, said DSP Rojhan Anis Lodhi.

Two remaining hostages Amanullah and Sher Khan were recovered, police said.●