Karachi: In the second incident of its kind in a week, a mob in this Pakistani port city beat up and set afire two robbers, resulting in the death of one.

The armed robbers apparently in their twenties robbed a bus near a busy roundabout before they were caught by the public and beaten up yesterday afternoon. Some people then poured petrol on the robbers and set them alight.

The men were taken to the Civil Hospital, where one of them died and the other is being treated for serious burn injuries.

Assistant Sub Inspector Khalid Rafiq, who was on patrol in plainclothes at the time of the incident, said the robbers had surrendered and handed their guns over to the police but a mob started beating them up.

Policemen who tried to intervene were beaten up as well and retreated to call for back-up.

A police contingent arrived on the scene but could not stop the mob from throwing petrol on the robbers and burning them. Police had to resort to a baton charge to disperse the mob.

"We assured them that justice will be done but they wanted to kill us too," Rafiq said. Some people even filmed the gory incident.

Some of the persons responsible for setting the robbers on fire told reporters that they did not trust the police and the judicial system.

If the robbers had been handed over to police, they would have been granted bail by courts and would have resumed looting people, they said.

On Wednesday, three robbers had died when they were set on fire by an angry mob that caught them after they had looted an apartment. Seventeen people were arrested in connection with the incident but police action sparked angry protests by the public.
Source : PTI