'Blind' police fire kills student in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: A youth was shot dead in Islamabad late Friday night when the personnel of the counter-terrorism force (CTF) purportedly opened indiscriminate fire on a vehicle.

Reports suggest Usama Nadeem, a 21-year-old resident of Islamabad, was returning after dropping off a friend when the incident happened near G-10 Srinagar Highway.

Citing police sources, an INP report said Islamabad police late last night received a tip-off about a robbery attempt in Shamas Colony neighbourhood. At this, the police rushed to the locality.

After spotting the suspected car with tinted glasses, the CTF personnel signalled it to stop. However, the driver of the vehicle failed to comply with the directive. The police party then chased the car till Sector G-10 where the personnel shoot at the tyres.

Accidently, the bullets were received by the student who died on the spot, the police said.

Unverified tweets suggest 22 shots were fired of which 17 hit the student mostly on the face and upper body.

Geo reporting on Usama Nadeem's case: young man shot 22 times by police in Islamabad; shots were fired from the front and hit him mostly on the face and upper body, they say. No weapons etc discovered from the boy's car.

— Zebunnisa Burki (@zburki) January 2, 2021

Four CTF personnel including a sub-inspector said to be involved in the incident were arrested.

Islamabad Inspector General of Police (IGP) Amir Zulfiqar took notice of the incident and directed the CTS superintendent of police (SP) to investigate the incident.