Bandits kidnap 10 in retaliatory attack on Punjab highway, injuring three

By Staff Reporter

RAHIM YAR KHAN: Bandits armed with assault rifles and rocket launchers ambushed vehicles on a major highway in southern Punjab province on Thursday morning, kidnapping 10 people and injuring three others in an attack that police said was retaliation for a drone strike on a criminal hideout a day earlier.

The assault unfolded on the Sukkur-Multan motorway in Rahim Yar Khan district, where between 20 and 25 suspects opened fire on passing vehicles, according to South Punjab Additional Inspector General of Police Kamran Khan. No money or valuables were stolen, but the attackers abducted passengers from the scene.

“Three people were injured in the incident,” Khan told Dawn.com. “Two of them suffered minor injuries, so they were discharged. One remains admitted in hospital with gunshot wounds to the waist and leg.”

The injured were aboard the same coach and hail from Sheikhupura, according to Sheikh Zayed Medical College Hospital spokesperson Rana Ilyas Ahmed, who confirmed that three people were admitted to the facility. He later said that two had been discharged, while one was “receiving treatment for a gunshot wound to the leg.”

Rahim Yar Khan police spokesperson Sub-Inspector Zeeshan Randhawa said the incident took place in the early hours of Thursday morning but did not confirm any injuries or fatalities. Quoting the Rahim Yar Khan district police officer, Randhawa added that the attack was retaliation for a drone operation carried out on a bandit hideout in the district’s Kacha Ronti area a day earlier.

“We received threats from bandit gangs about a retaliatory attack,” the spokesperson said. “This attack on the motorway was in response to yesterday’s operation.”

Videos and photos recorded at the scene showed trucks and other vehicles riddled with bullet holes and popped tires. According to a first information report (FIR) registered at Bhong police station, the firing lasted for half an hour. One of the vehicles attacked was armored and belonged to the government.

For decades, dozens of bandit gangs armed with sophisticated weaponry have operated with impunity in northern Sindh as well as southern Punjab. Kidnappings for ransom, extortion rackets, brutal killings and robberies on major highways occur on a daily basis.

The region has seen a string of violent incidents tied to these groups. On Aug. 1, five cops were martyred after bandits from the Katcha area attacked a police checkpoint in Rahim Yar Khan. In March, three people were allegedly shot dead by dacoits in the Jamaldin Wali area of tehsil Sadiqabad near the Indus River, to avenge the murder of a YouTuber.