Australian girl killed in Pakistan after botched police shooting

In Brief

The girl and her family were visiting family when they were allegedly robbed at gunpoint.

Mistaking their car for the suspects, police shot and killed the girl and seriously injured her father and brother.

A nine-year-old Australian girl has died, and two others have been seriously injured after being shot by police in Pakistan.

The girl and her family were visiting a relative in Chakwal, in the Punjab province, when their car was stopped by two armed robbers on a motorcycle.

They were forced to surrender jewellery and cash.

The incident occurred within proximity to a Crime Control Department, and a police officer returning to the station witnessed the robbery and opened fire on the motorcyclists as they drove off.

More police attended the scene and opened fire on the family's car, confusing them for the alleged robbers.

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"As the cops saw the vehicle being driven away immediately, they took it as belonging to the robbers and opened indiscriminate fire on the car," police officials told local media.

The family were rushed to District Headquarters Hospital, where the nine-year-old girl was pronounced dead.

While her mother remained unharmed, her father and brother were seriously injured.

The pair were transferred to Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Rawalpindi for surgery.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it is "providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian who was killed and to two Australians injured in Pakistan".

"We send our deepest condolences to the family at this difficult time," a spokesperson said.

A police investigation is underway.

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