 "Abu Qatal (right) was reportedly the nephew and close associate of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed. File image/Reuters")
Terrorists in Pakistan are a spooked bunch. On Saturday (March 15), came the news that Lashkar-e-Taiba’s most wanted terrorist, Abu Qatal, who also went by the name Faisal Nadeem, was allegedly shot dead by unknown assailants in the Jhelum district of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Qatal’s death follows an interesting pattern — since 2023, Pakistan has seen a string of mysterious killings of terrorists wanted by India and others with reported ties to terror outfits, all following a similar modus operandi. This includes attacks by unidentified vehicle-borne assailants (usually on motorcycles) who pump multiple bullets into their targets’ bodies. None of the killers have been identified or arrested by Pakistan’s security agencies.
Let’s take a closer look at the killings in Pakistan.
Abu Qatal
On March 16, a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander was gunned down by gunmen in an attack in Pakistan. Intelligence agencies revealed that Abu Qatal , wanted by India, was shot dead by unidentified assailants around 7 pm on Saturday, with the attackers firing 15 to 20 rounds at him. His security guard was also killed, officials said, citing information they received from Pakistan.
An India Today report states that the gunmen fired at Qatal when his convoy was passing the Zeenat Hotel, next to Dina Punjab University.
Qatal, 43, was reportedly the nephew of 26/11 mastermind and LeT chief Hafiz Saeed . He was also considered to be Hafiz Saeed’s most trusted handler and played an important role in executing attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.
He had also been chargesheeted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the 2023 Dhangri terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district, which resulted in the deaths of seven civilians.
He was also behind the June 9, 2024 attack on a bus carrying pilgrims returning from the Shiv Khori temple in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district. The attack killed nine people, including seven pilgrims, and injured 41 others.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsQatal, according to officials, was also responsible for the formation of several proxy terror outfits such as the People’s Anti-Fascist Force (PAFF) and The Resistance Force (TRF).
Sheikh Jameel-ur-Rehman
Last March, another Pakistan-based terrorist commander was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Abbottabad in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
It is still unknown as to who or how Sheikh Jameel-ur-Rehman, the self-styled secretary general of the United Jihad Council, was killed. He was designated a terrorist by the Home Ministry in Oct 2022.
According to authorities, Rehman was originally from Pulwama, but relocated to Pakistan after orchestrating multiple terror attacks in Kashmir. He was also the emir of Tahreek-ul-Mujahdeen — whose sole aim was to merge Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan while promoting a pan-Islamist identity.
A Times of India report, citing an official said that in 2018, Rehman had asked Kashmiri students to take up arms only after proper training to avoid being killed by security forces.
Shahid Latif
Before Qatal and Rehman, in October 2023, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist Shahid Latif, believed to be the mastermind behind the Pathankot attack and one of India’s most wanted terrorists, was also killed by unknown assailants in Pakistan’s Sialkot.
Three motorbike-borne gunmen shot Latif and two of his associates near the Noor Madina Mosque in Punjab’s Daska after the Fajr prayer. Two of them died on the spot, while one was injured.
According to Indian officials, 43-year-old Latif built an extensive network while he was in prison in Jammu from 1994 to 2010. After serving his sentence in India, he was deported to where he joined the JeM. He was listed as a wanted terrorist by the Indian government.
He was also allegedly involved in the 2022 April attack in Sunjwan ahead of a visit to Jammu by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Dawood Malik
Days after news broke of Latif’s killing, came reports that Dawood Malik, known to be an aide of India’s wanted terrorist Maulana Masood Azhar was shot dead in North Waziristan by unidentified gunmen.
Malik was targeted by masked men at a private clinic and the assailants managed to escape after the attack.
Described as an “elderly tribal” by Pakistan media, Malik reportedly founded the Lashkar-e-Jabbar, a secretive religious terrorist outfit also known as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. This outfit is believed to have carried out multiple attacks including the 2016 attack on a police training centre in Quetta, Balochistan, in which more than 60 people were killed.
Ziaur Rehman
On September 29, 2023, two motorbike-borne assailants shot dead Maulana Ziaur Rehman in Pakistan’s Karachi. He was involved in radicalising youth to take up arms and conduct jihad against India.
Following the killing, Pakistani officials said it was a “terrorist attack” by “home-grown militants”. It also pointed fingers at India’s Research and Analysis Wing, a claim denied by New Delhi.
Abu Qasim Kashmiri
Also known by his other name, Riyaz Ahmad, Kashmiri was assassinated by unknown men in September 2023 while praying inside the Al-Qudus mosque in the Rawalakot area during pre-dawn prayers.
A resident of Jammu, Kashmiri was believed to be the main conspirator behind the Dhangri attack in Rajouri district that killed seven and injured another 13. While some authorities say he was linked to LeT, others note that he had ties with the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD).
Sardar Hussain Arain
An associate of Hafiz Saeed, Arain was killed on August 1, 2023, in Pakistan’s Qazi Ahmad town in Sindh’s Shaheed Benazirabad district.
After his death, the Sidhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA) claimed responsibility for his assassination.
Arain was responsible for the madrasa network of JuD.
Paramjit Singh Panjwar
The mysterious killings in Pakistan continued unabated in 2023 — in May, Panjwar, a Pakistan-based Khalistani terrorist, was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen in Lahore. The leader of Khalistan Commando Force (KCF), a banned terror organisation, was shot dead when he had gone out for a walk. He was accompanied by a security guard when motorcycle-borne assailants shot at him from a close range.
In India, the Punjab Police was on the hunt for him in connection with several murders including that of Major-General BN Kumar (retired) in 1988, as well as the killing of the 19 students at Patiala’s Thapar Engineering College in 1989, and abduction and killing of Rajan Bains, the son of the then senior superintendent of police of Batala, in 1989.
He was also involved in providing arms training to Sikh youths in Pakistan and infiltration into India. Panjwar was reportedly working with the ISI and received funds from its sleeper agents abroad, including in the United States.
Bashir Ahmad Peer
Hizbul Mujahideen supremo Syed Salahuddin doesn’t often make public appearances. However, he was seen offering prayers after his close aide, Bashir Ahmad Peer alias Imtiyaz Alam, was shot dead in February 2023, by unknown men.
According to Pakistan media reports, Peer was shot from point-blank range by the assailants outside a shop in Rawalpindi.
Before his death, Peer was in charge of launching terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir through the Line of Control. Two weeks after his killing, the NIA attached Peer’s properties in Babapora village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara.
Syed Khalid Raza
Just a week after Peer was gunned down, Pakistan witnessed the death of former Al-Badr Mujahideen commander Syed Khalid Raza in the port city of Karachi.
Just like Peer, Raza was also attacked by unknown men on bikes and died after being shot in the head. He was killed near his house when he was walking to where he had parked his car.
In October 2022, India designated him as a terrorist, describing him as a “launching commander” of the Hizbul Mujahideen, “especially for infiltrating into Kupwara and coordinating with other terrorist groups for activities in Jammu and Kashmir”.
Zahoor Mistry
Prior to the 2023 string of killings, in March 2022, came the news of the death of Zahoor Mistry, one of the hijackers of Indian Airlines flight IC 814 . He was killed by two bike-borne assailants in Karachi’s Akhtar colony. The killing was confirmed by Pakistan’s Geo TV, reporting it as the death of a “businessman” in Karachi.
An operative of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Mistry was among the five who hijacked IC 814, which was taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan on December 24, 1999. Mistry was responsible for the only death amid the hijacking drama — of 25-year-old Rupin Katyal. In order to pressure the Indian government to agree to their terms, the terrorists decided to kill one of the passengers. Mistry stabbed Katyal in the chest inside the flight, killing him.
With inputs from agencies