Five policemen from the elite force were killed when dozens of heavily-armed bandits attacked a police checkpoint in Pakistan’s Punjab province, officials said on Friday.
Around 40 bandits, armed with rocket launchers and grenades, attacked the Sheikhani Police Checkpoint in Rahim Yar Khan on Thursday night, Inspector-General of Police Usman Anwar said.
“Bandits launched the cowardly attack in the dead of night,” Anwar said.
Five police officers of the elite force of the Punjab Police were killed, his office said in a statement.
Three officers were from Bahawalnagar, while the other two were from Rahim Yar Khan.
One bandit was killed in the retaliatory fire by the police, it added.
The police sealed the entry and exit points to the area and launched a search operation to find the bandits.
Multiple gangs and armed groups have been carrying out kidnappings, extortion, robberies and murders in Kacha region, which extends across both banks of the Indus River through Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur and Rahim Yar Khan for over two decades, according to the local media reports.
