Dacoits open fire on Quetta-bound bus, helicopters deployed in ongoing rescue operation
Unidentified assailants opened fire on a passenger bus in Murid Shakh area of Kashmore, Sindh, abducting more than 25 passengers traveling from Sadiqabad to Quetta.
The attackers stopped the bus around 11.30 pm on Monday near Guddu Interchange along Guddu Kashmore Link Road. Confirming the incident, Sadabahar Transport Company owner Shoaib Lehri said men, women and children were on board, adding that the attackers separated passengers before abducting them.
According to eyewitnesses, about 15 gunmen attacked the bus and wounded the driver before taking the abducted passengers into the nearby Katcha area.
Police and Rangers launched a search operation which resulted in the rescue of 10 abducted passengers after a gunfight in Sonmiani, Balochistan. DIG Sukkur Captain (retired) Faisal Abdullah Chachar confirmed the identity of some recovered passengers: Muhammad Irfan, Lal Khan and Zulfiqar Ali of Rahim Yar Khan, Feroz Khan of Muzaffargarh and Kareem Bakhsh and Syed Ali Imad.
DIG Chachar said that during the encounter a few dacoits were injured. He noted that dense fog and sugarcane crops in the Katcha area are complicating the search operation, which remains ongoing with all available resources, including helicopters.
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Families of the remaining abducted passengers are being contacted by the transport company. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the incident.
The incident is another link in the growing wave of crime in the Katcha areas of northern Sindh, where kidnappings for ransom are increasingly common. Demands are being made for the government to take measures to ensure the safety of passengers traveling on the Katcha routes.
