Islamabad police report five suspects killed in 61 encounters — Dawn

Since the beginning of the year, five suspects have been killed and another 53 injured in 61 incidents in Islamabad, Pakistan, which police described as encounters. One police officer was also injured in one of the cases, according to Dawn.

Incident statistics

The highest number of cases — 22 — was recorded in the Saddar zone. Seventeen incidents occurred in the Industrial Area zone, nine in the Sohan zone, seven in the City zone, and six in the Rural zone. Two suspects were killed in the Industrial Area zone, with one each killed in the City, Rural and Sohan zones.

According to the capital police, about 140 suspects were involved in these cases. Of them, 114 escaped and 26 were detained. The Saddar zone had the highest number of injured suspects, at 18. Sixteen people were injured in the Industrial Area zone, eight in Sohan, six in the City zone and five in the Rural zone.

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Discrepancies in the description of one case

Police claim that such incidents occurred when officers were taking handcuffed detainees to hideouts to recover items or were returning from there. Other cases, according to police, took place during patrols or at checkpoints. The department said that in all incidents, suspects sustained gunshot wounds from fire by their accomplices, while police officers fired into the air in self-defense or to prevent detainees from escaping.

This month, according to the outlet, six such encounters occurred: a suspect and an accused person were killed, while three suspects and a police officer were injured. In one of the latest cases in the Shams Colony area, the main suspect in the case concerning the suicide incident involving Laiba Ejaz was killed.

Dawn notes that the description of this incident in the FIR and in a statement by the police public relations unit was contradictory. The FIR said that officers were returning after recovering items, while the statement said that the team was heading to a hideout. According to police, after the shooting, the detainee freed himself from handcuffs, escaped from the vehicle, was wounded by a shot fired by his accomplices and fell. Four people whom police described as his accomplices fled.