SAHIWAL: Kameer police claimed to have killed two suspects in an encounter near Chak 120/9-L in earlyhoursofTuesday.

Ramzan was coming from Muhammad Panah Darbar, Kameer, when three robbers snatched his motorcycle, a mobile phone and cash from him at gunpoint. He informed police about the robbery.

A Kameer police mobile squad, led by SHO Jawad Aslam, tracked the suspects while fleeing on two motorcycles. Police claimed the suspects opened fire on them which was retaliated. The bring by the suspects stopped after 20 minutes and the police found two of them dead near roadside. Their third accomplice managed to escape.

The dead were later identified asMukhtar alias Mokhi, of Chak 531GB, Faisalabad, and Sajjad, of Jewan Vervaan village.

Later District Police Officer Syed Khurram Ali told the media both the criminals were absconders. He claimed Mukhtar was involved in two murders as he had kidnapped a man from Kamalia and killed him when he was not paid the ransom money.

He had also killed a man in Dera Rahim police area during a robbery.

The DCO also claimed that Mukhtar was heading a gang involved in extortion in Faisalabad, Pakpattan and Sahiwal and was wanted by the police in three districts in more than 24 criminal cases.

Police recovered a rifle and a snatched motorcycle from the site of encounter. The bodies of the were sent to DHQ Hospital for autopsy.

ROBBERIES: Eight robbers looted two filling stations in less than fourhours interval in the Ghala Mandi police station area on Tuesday.

Robbers took away Rs150,000 cash, five mobile phones, two guns, a Kalashnikov and 20 litres engine oil from the filling stations, owned by two political figures of the area.

In the first strike, four armed men arrived at the filling station, owned by PPP`s Arshad Bhutta, on Jhal Road in a car with a police siren.

They locked employees Aslam, Allah Rakha, Jamil and Gulam Shabbir in a room and took away cash.

They also looted cash from a hotel adjacent to the filling station.

The second strike occurred at the filling station on Pakpattan Road owned by the Pakistan Tehreek-iInsaf`s Jalal Din Dhakko, a former MPA.

Robbers took away Rs100,000, a gun and mobile phones of three employees.