Who are the dacoits behind killing of 12 Pakistani policemen

The killing of 12 policemen in a remote region of Pakistan in an attack that saw the use of heavy weapons has put the spotlight on bands of brigands which operate in the lawless tribal regions with impunity.

Gunmen armed with rocket-propelled grenades ambushed a police convoy in Rahim Yar Khan, a city in Punjab province.

The police team was on a patrol in a deserted area when it came under attack.

Generally, militants affiliated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or separatist groups carry out such deadly hits.

But the recent deadly attack was carried out by bandits who operate from what’s known as the Kacha area in Pakstan.

“It’s very difficult to counter them. They hide in marshy areas. Those are lowlying forested lands. And then they have M 16 rifles and rockets left behind the Americans in Afghanistan,” says Asad Raza, a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police in Karachi, told TRT World.

The bandits or dacoits operate in the riverine region which covers the borders of Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab provinces.

Often sporting twirly moustaches and bushy beards, the dacoits roam around cities of Sindh on Honda bikes, brandishing AK-47s that have been adorned with traditional Sindhi or Balochi artwork.

Over the years, police and other security forces have conducted raids to root out the bandits from the region.

In June, President Asif Ali Zardari said the government was willing to rehabilitate members of organised criminal gangs in the Kacha area who were willing to surrender.

Earlier this month, three policemen were killed in a similar attack, and last month, four dacoits were killed in a police operation.

“It’s not easy. They would have snipers sitting on tree tops in camouflage taking aim at us,” says Raza, who had served in the areas where bandits operate.

Most of the bandits are Balochi tribesmen who have fought wars and battles for generations, he says.

“It’s a complicated dynamic at play. These tribesmen have internal feuds. They kill each other, and when police come looking for them, they run and join the bandits in the Kacha area,” Raza told TRT World.

The bandits finance their operations by kidnapping businessmen or their family members from urban areas.

“They kidnap hundreds of people for ransom every year,” says Raza. And when money is short, they use timber, which is available in abundance in the Kacha area, to buy weapons.

“They sell the timber in exchange for weapons that people from the border regions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bring to them in trucks,” says Raza.

The Forest Department manages millions of acres in the Kacha (dry) region, located on both sides of the Indus River, a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia.

“They sell the timber in exchange for weapons that people from the border regions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bring to them in trucks,” Raza told TRT World.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the Pakistani province that borders Afghanistan.

This area includes extensive tracts of uncultivated land called "Kacha," owned by numerous large landholders who are often influential politicians.

While the Kacha region is mostly arid throughout the year, it undergoes annual flooding during the flood season.

Despite these conditions, the land is highly valued for its fertility, attributed to the mineral deposits left by the river.

Smuggling is central to the survival on bandits, who number in the hundreds and openly show off their power in social media videos from time to time.

“When we try to stop the smuggling, these tribesmen say ‘what else can we do to make a living?” says Raza.