Eight alleged dacoits and police inspector die in encounter

Eight alleged dacoits and an inspector were killed in an encounter between police and criminals in kachcha area near the River Indus in Rajanpur district, some 130 kilometres south of Rajanpur city, police said on Saturday.
The dacoits killed in the operation were relatives and were residents of Bailay Shah village.
Nine accused, including a 12-year-old boy, were arrested and four Kalashnikovs and two rifles were also recovered during the operation, police control said.
Police of Bangia Khcha police station in Rojhan tehsil and Elite Force Rajanpur, on a tip-off, conducted a raid at a hide-out of a gang of criminals, located some 130 kilometres south of Rajanpur, a city some 190 kilometres from Multan.
During the raid at a village, the companions and relatives of the alleged criminals, came from nearby villages and surrounded the police party. They opened fire at the police that hit Inspector/SHO Bangla Ichcha police station Azeem Khan Niazi who died on the spot.
Eight dacoits were also killed in return fire by the law enforcers, the police said, adding that the encounter continued for about four to five hours. It started in the wee hours and continued till 11 in the morning, a Rajanpur police official said.
The village, where the raid was conducted, is located somewhere near Sadiqabad tehsil, but comes in the jurisdiction of Bangla Ichcha police station of Rojhan tehsil, in Rajanpur district.
Those killed included Sohna s/o Sabo, Ali Dost s/o Mohammad Bakhsh, Mohammad Bakhsh s/o Fateh Mohammad, Rafiqullah s/o Dil Murad, Dil Murad s/o Mir Khan, Mohib, Elahi Bakhsh and Noor Elahi s/o Sabo.
Their bodies have been shifted to district headquarters hospital Rajanpur for post-mortem.
Those arrested included Mir Khan s/o Dil Murad, Abdul Hakim s/o Miran, Fateh s/o Mohammad Bakhsh, Lutf s/o Mohammadi, Mohammad Haleem s/o Karam Elahi, Yaroo s/o Chachar, Mushtaq s/o Ali Murad, Jalal s/o Miran, and 12-year-old Abu Bakar s/o Noor Ali.
Meanwhile, Namaz-e-Janaza of Inspector Azeem Khan was held at police lines Rajanpur that was attended by DPO Chaudhry Shahid Iqbal, other senior police officers and a number of policemen and notables of the city.
His body has been sent to Dera Ghazi Khan where his family resides and would be taken to his ancestral village in Mianwali.
Inspector Azeem Niazi was survived by a widow, two sons and a daughter.