A nine-year-old Australian girl has been killed by police in Pakistan in what has been described as a tragic case of mistaken identity. Hania Ahmed was travelling with her family, who were visiting relatives in Pakistan, when the shooting took place. What began as a robbery ended with the death of a child caught up in the confusion that followed.
According to local accounts, the family had been confronted by two robbers who held them at gunpoint and demanded jewellery. A police officer witnessed the hold-up as it was unfolding. When the robbers fled the scene, the family tried to drive away amid the chaos that surrounded them.
As the family attempted to leave, more police arrived at the location. The officers opened fire on the car, having confused the family for the suspects they were pursuing. In the gunfire, Hania was struck and later died, turning a frightening robbery into a fatal tragedy.
Her father and brother were also injured in the shooting and are recovering. The family had been on what was meant to be a trip to see relatives when the violence unfolded, and they are now left to absorb the loss of a young child far from home.
Pakistani authorities say that, in light of a preliminary investigation, the police official involved in the original shooting has been arrested. The arrest followed quickly after the incident, but the full circumstances of how the shooting came to happen are still being examined.
In Australia, the loss has been felt at the Perth Islamic college where Hania was a pupil. Her family had come to the country about five years earlier as skilled migrants, with her mother working as a dentist. The death has cast a shadow over a community that had welcomed the family in recent years.
In the days that followed, the Crime Control Department publicly accepted responsibility for what had happened. Speaking at a press conference, SSP CCD Shah Mir Khalid said the force acknowledged that a grave mistake had been made and offered an apology, adding that it shared equally in the family's grief over the loss of the child.
Officials confirmed that a murder case has now been registered against the officer who opened fire, and that he has been taken into custody while the investigation proceeds. According to the department, the officer failed to identify his target and was unaware that the robbers had already fled, mistaking the family's vehicle for the one carrying the suspects. The affected family, for its part, said it had confidence in the Crime Control Department's investigation into the killing.