Police said two under-custody suspects were killed on Sunday in an alleged Islamabad police encounter in the capital. Officers described the dead men as Afghan nationals who had been arrested over the snatching of a woman’s mobile phone, an attempted rape and her injury.
With these deaths, police said, the number of suspects killed in alleged encounters in the capital this year has risen to seven.
Who the suspects were, according to police
Police named the men as Abdullah and Malha Khan. They said both had earlier been arrested in a case registered at the Secretariat Police Station involving alleged mobile phone snatching from a woman, an attempted rape and her injury.
How the shooting unfolded, police say
According to police, a team took the two under-custody suspects to a scrap yard near Rawal Town, within the Shahzad Town Police Station area, to recover stolen items and try to arrest their accomplices, after disclosures by the detained men.
Police said four armed accomplices hiding in a nearby forested area opened indiscriminate fire on the team in an attempt to free the two suspects. Authorities said the detainees suffered fatal bullet wounds from gunfire allegedly opened by their own associates.
The police team remained safe because of bulletproof jackets and other precautions, officials said. The injured suspects were rushed to hospital for treatment and later succumbed to their injuries, police added. The accomplices who opened fire fled under cover of darkness, according to the account.
What police say comes next
Police have framed the episode as an alleged encounter sparked by an attempt to free the detainees during a recovery operation. They have not, in the material available, named the four shooters who fled or given a public update on any further arrests after Sunday’s gunfire.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Police ke mutabiq, Islamabad mein police ke paas do Afghan mulzim the, Abdullah aur Malha Khan. Yeh waqia Shahzad Town ke qareeb Rawal Town ke scrap yard ke paas hua, jahan police kehte hain ke un ke saathiyon ne firing ki. Dono zakhmi hokar hospital mein mar gaye, jab ke police team bach gayi. Police ka kehna hai ke is saal shehar mein aise alleged encounters mein ab tak saat log mar chuke hain.
