SUKKUR: Five police personnel were wounded in a rocket and gun attack on their mobile van by an armed gang near Shujrah Laro (turning) in the Naparkot area of Shikarpur on Saturday night.

The police van was patrolling a section of the Indus Highway when it was ambushed by the gang hiding in bushes.

According to the Shikarpur district police, the gang suddenly emerged from bushes andstarted an indiscriminate fire on the van. A rocket was also fired during the attack, they added.

The attack caused extensive damage to the vehicle and left several policemen wounded, they said.

According to local reporters, the gangsters attacked the van with sophisticated weapons and fled into the nearby riverine area giving the police team no chance to understand the situation.

As soon as the report about the attack reached the district police, a strong contingent of police com-prising officers and personnel drawn from various police stations was dispatched to the spot to transport the victims to the Shikarpur Civil Hospital.

The police force also cordoned off the area and mounted a search for the assailants. However, it could not succeed in reaching them till late Sunday evening.

Sources in the area identified the wounded policemen as head-constable Mohammad Yousuf Pathan and constables Abdul Waheed Hakro, Mohsin Ali, Akhtar Ali and Jinsar Ali (mobile van driver). Two of them were referred to a major hospital due to their precarious condition, thesources said.

Speaking to the media, Shikarpur SSP Ifran Ali Sammo held out the assurance that the assailant would be arrested soon.

The sources said that an extensive search operation had been started in the riverine area adjacent to Garhi Tegho town.

17 army men looted by gang In a separate incident, a gang of heavily armed dacoits intercepted a private van carrying 17 army soldiers in civvies and deprived them of their mobile phones, cash and other belongings on Sunday.

The van was passing through Magsi Laro (turn-ing) within the jurisdiction of the Gaheja police station of Shikarpur district when the gang struck it.

The soldiers were on their way to Punjab after boarding the vehicle in Khuzdar, Balochistan.

According to localreporters, the gagsters fled into the nearby riverine area after committing the crime without facing any resistance.

The Gaheja police said in the evening that a search for the gangsters was under way.