Jacobabad Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dr Sumair Noor Channa confirmed the development to Dawn.com, adding that the slain police officials were from the Usta Muhammad police station located in Balochistan’s Jaffarabad.
SSP Channa said that the martyred officials included Usta Muhammad station’s sub-inspector Tayyab Umrani and constables Nisar Ahmed and Abdul Wahab.
Naseerabad division Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Munir Ahmed Sheikh said that the joint operation will continue till the hostage, Furqan Soomro, has been recovered.
The DIG added that Soomro — the son of Aslam Soomro, a rice mill owner in Usta Muhammad town — had been kidnapped at gunpoint a day ago from Jaffarabad.
He further told Dawn.com that the gangs of “Mittu Shah and Jakhrani” were involved in the kidnapping, adding that the Sindh government had already placed a bounty of Rs3 million on their heads.
DIG Sheikh said that the operation had been expanded with the cooperation of Sindh police and more personnel were on stand-by if needed.
Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo expressed his grief, saying that the “police inspector and three constables embraced martyrdom while performing their duties”.
He commended the martyred for “facing the enemy with bravery”, and prayed for their families to have patience.
Bizenjo further said he hoped that the Sindh government would soon bring to justice those responsible for the incident.
Earlier this month, a station house officer was martyred while five others, including a deputy superintendent of police, were injured after dacoits attacked a large police contingent in Sindh’s Kandhkot district to free hostages.
The Sindh and Punjab police have launched a grand joint operation against gangs of dacoits entrenched in the riverine areas of upper Sindh and southern Punjab. The Pakistan Army, Rangers and other security personnel are also aiding the police forces.
Two Pakistan Army soldiers were martyred in the Tirah area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Khyber district during a gunfight with terrorists, the military’s media affairs wing said on Wednesday.
The statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) identified the martyrs as 26-year-old Sepoy Waqas Ali Shah from Charsadda and 24-year-old Sepoy Basir Ali from Peshawar.
“On April 25, 2023, an exchange of fire took place between own troops and terrorists in general area Tirah, Khyber district. Own troops effectively engaged the terrorists’ location,” the ISPR said.
“Resultantly, two terrorists were sent to hell and four terrorists were injured. Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the killed terrorists,” it stated, adding that sanitisation of the area was being carried out to eliminate other militants in the area.
“Security forces of Pakistan are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve,” the military’s media wing added.
The exchange of fire comes amid a surge in terrorist activities across the country, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, since the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended its ceasefire with the government in November.
In his maiden press briefing a day earlier, ISPR Director General Maj Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry revealed that at least 293 people were martyred and 521 were injured in 436 terrorist incidents over the past year.
In KP, 192 people were martyred in 219 terror activities, while 80 people lost lives in 206 incidents in Balochistan, 14 people in five attacks in Punjab, and seven in six terrorism incidents across Sindh.
He said that the army and law enforcement agencies carried out 8,269 intelligence-based operations during the previous year in which 1,378 suspected terrorists were apprehended and 157 were killed.
The DG ISPR also said that overall 137 security personnel were martyred and 117 injured in anti-terror operations in the ongoing year.
The bodies of four children and their father were found in the Koshi area of Bannu district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday.
According to a preliminary report by the police, all five suffered gunshot wounds and a motorcycle was also found at the scene.
The bodies were shifted to the Khalifa Gulnawaz Teaching Hospital in Bannu for post-mortem examinations, while the motive behind the act was under investigation.
Earlier, the Balochistan Levies force discovered three bodies – a mother and her two sons – from a well in Barkhan district, triggering a strong protest by the local Marri tribesmen.
The deceased were family members of a local tribesman, Khan Muhammad Marri. The victims were identified as Giran Naz, wife of Khan Muhammad Marri and her two sons Mohammad Nawaz, in his 20s, and Abdul Qadir, in his teens.
The police said that the bodies were recovered from a well in the Haji Kot area of the district on Monday night.