BAHAWALPUR: Khairpur Tamewali police have booked as many as 85 people, nominating six men and three women of them, for allegedly opening fire, injuring, and making hostages a raiding police party, besides freeing a wanted suspect from the policemen, near Chailiwahan village in Shah Goth Muhammad area, about 45kms from here.

The first information report (FIR No 1028/24) was registered against the suspects under section 7 of the Antiterrorism Act (ATA) and sections 427, 342, 353, 223, 337-H (2), 2015-13 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), on the complaint of Sub Inspector (SI) Ghulam Abbas of city police station, Lodhran.

As per the FIR, a police party headed by SI Abbas arrested a theft suspect, Jamal, wanted in FIR No.1766/24 in a raid, recovering an unlicenced pistol from his possession.It says that as the police were going to the house of the suspect in the village for recovery of two stolen motorcycles and as many laptops, about 15 men, including Irshad, Jindwadha, Riaz, Qaisar and others, along with three women, Zakia, Bilgeas and Safia -opened fire on the police team, leaving Constable Umair Ilyas injured.It says the suspects, who werealso joinedby700thermen,attacked the policemen, tearing uniforms of many of them and taking them hostage.

However, when the attackers noticed the police re-enforcement was arriving, they fled the scene, along with the arrested suspect. The Bahawalpur and Lodhran police spokespersons, when contacted, said an operation to arrest the suspects was being planned in Goth Shah Muhammad area.

SUSPECT KILLED: Police claimed that a dacoity suspect was killed, while one of his accomplices was arrested in a an `encounter` at 27-M village in the limits of Dunyapur police station in Lodhrandistrict on Friday.

However, another accomplice of the suspect managed to flee under the cover of darkness.

According to Lodhran police, Saddar police, Kahrorepucca, received an emergency call from Masti police post that three suspects were fleeing after snatching a motorcycle and cash from a man.

At this, SHO Imran Gujjar, along with a heavy contingent of police, set up a picket on a road in the area, where a Dunyapur Saddar police party also joined them.

Meanwhile, according to the police, three suspects on a motorcycle allegedly opened fire on the police at the picket.

As the police returned the fire, a suspect, identified as Imran alias Sanwal, was killed during the shootout, while his accomplice Belal was arrested.

The police claimed that Imran was allegedly involved in 17 cases of dacoity, murder and abduction. He had also murdered a vendor selling utensils in the area and snatched his motorcycle, thatwas recovered from him, the police said.

They said the arrested suspect, Belal was being interrogated, while police are looking for the third accomplice, who had fled away. The body of Imran was shifted to Dunyapur THQ hospital for the postmortem examination.

Meanwhile, a four-year-old boy drowned in the river Sutlej, while four women suffered injuries in a road accident. As per police, the boy, Subhan, was playing on the river bank near Basti Qadirabad when he fell into the river and drowned.

The four women, identified as Rabia, Tahira, Sadia and Muqaddas Bibi, suffered injuries in a collision between a van and a motorcycle on Ahmedpur East Road.

In another road traffic accident, a car collided with a motorcycle-rickshaw on Chishtian Road in Hasilpur, leaving four persons, including a woman, injured.

They were shifted to the Hasilpur THQ Hospital.