Officials said the operation entered its sixth consecutive day, with more than two dozen abductees safely recovered so far.
On December 16, unidentified assailants opened fire on a passenger bus in the Murid Shakh area of Kashmore district, abducting 19 passengers travelling from Sadiqabad to Quetta, police said.
The incident is part of a wider pattern of crime in the katcha areas of northern Sindh, where kidnappings for ransom have increasingly been reported.
The operation, under the supervision of DIG Sukkur Faisal Abdullah Chachar, is being conducted in the Katcha Karachi, Katcha Rajwani and Katcha Razi areas, where the suspects had taken refuge.
Police said a key suspect, Chhalu Bukrani, who carried a Rs5 million head money, was killed during the operation. According to police, Bukrani was the leader of the Bukrani gang and a close associate of another wanted criminal, Tanveer Andhar.
During the operation, police and Rangers accessed multiple hideouts used by the dacoits, recovering stolen goods and weapons. Police said weapons recovered included Kalashnikovs, G-3 rifles and a large quantity of ammunition.
Police said increased pressure during the operation forced several suspects to abandon their hideouts and flee. More than a dozen bunker-like hideouts have been destroyed so far.
Armoured vehicles, heavy police contingents from the Sukkur and Larkana divisions, and surveillance drones are being used in the operation.
Police and Rangers have sealed the area by establishing pickets on entry and exit routes, adding that the operation would continue until remaining suspects were apprehended and the riverine area cleared of explosives.
Unidentified assailants opened fire on a passenger bus in the Murid Shakh area of Kashmore, Sindh, abducting 19 passengers travelling from Sadiqabad to Quetta.
The attackers stopped the bus around 11.30pm on Monday near the Guddu Interchange along the Guddu Kashmore Link Road. Confirming the incident, Sadabahar Transport Company owner Shoaib Lehri said that men, women and children were on board, adding that the attackers separated passengers before abducting them.
According to eyewitnesses, around 15 armed men attacked the bus, injuring the driver before taking the abducted passengers into the nearby Katcha area.
Police and Rangers launched a search operation, resulting in the recovery of 10 abducted passengers after an exchange of fire in Sonmiani, Balochistan. DIG Sukkur Captain (Retired) Faisal Abdullah Chachar confirmed the identities of some recovered passengers: Muhammad Irfan, Lal Khan, and Zulfiqar Ali from Rahim Yar Khan, Feroz Khan from Muzaffargarh, and Kareem Bakhsh and Syed Ali Imad.
DIG Chachar said that during the encounter, two dacoits were injured. Two of the recovered passengers have been taken to hospital.
The DIG noted that dense fog and sugarcane crops in the Katcha area are complicating the search operation, which remains ongoing with all available resources, including helicopters.
Families of the remaining abducted passengers are being contacted by the transport company. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the incident.
The occurrence is another link in the growing wave of crime in the Katcha areas of northern Sindh, where kidnappings for ransom are increasingly common. Demands are being made for the government to undertake measures that ensure the safety of passengers travelling on the Katcha routes.