New Delhi: Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Akram Ghazi was shot and killed by unidentified persons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. This is the second terrorist assassination in a week to target India.
According to sources, Akram Khan, also known as Ghazi, was one of the leading recruiters for Lashkar from 2018 to 2020 and was in charge of radicalising a large number of terrorists who entered the Kashmir Valley in several groups over the previous two years.
Khwaja Shahid, one of the masterminds of the 2018 Sunjwan terror attack in J&K, was abducted and, later, found beheaded near the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The role of local rivals, including those from different terror groups, and in-fighting in Lashkar’s own ranks are two of the preliminary lines of inquiry being pursued by Pakistani agencies working on Ghazi’s killing.
“Ghazi was a key member of Lashkar’s central recruitment cell and known for his hate-filled speeches against India,” said a source. He was shot dead by bike-borne men in Bajaur district, the source said, adding that Pakistani spy agency ISI has been trying to downplay the killing.
This marks the second high-profile Lashkar assassination in a short period of time. LeT commander Riyaz Ahmed was assassinated in September in Rawalakot, Pakistan, outside Al Quddus Masjid. In PoK, he was in charge of recruiting Lashkar.
Another significant setback for LeT and ISI is the death of Ghazi.