New Delhi, April 16 (IANS) In a significant blow to the revival plans of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), its co-founder and second-in-command Amir Hamza was shot at by unidentified gunmen in Lahore, Pakistan, outside a television station.
He has been admitted to a hospital with severe injuries and is said to be in a critical condition. The incident occurred when he was outside a news channel’s office in Lahore on Thursday.
He was reportedly being hospitalised following injuries sustained in an accident at his residence in Lahore when the shooting took place. Hamza is a prominent figure in Lashkar-e-Taiba and had co-founded the terror group along with Hafiz Saeed. He hails from Gujranwala city in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
He has served as the editor of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s official publication and is also the author of several books, including Qafila Da’wat aur Shahadat and Shahrah-e-Bahisht.
He is also a veteran of the Afghan Mujahideen and is known as a fiery speaker.
The 67-year-old Hamza was designated a global terrorist by the United States in August 2012.
He has also served as a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s central advisory committee. While designating him, the US Department of the Treasury had said in a statement: “Hamza has led an LeT-associated charity and, as of 2010, was also an officer and member of an LeT university trust that was led by Saeed.”
Hamza shared close ties with Saeed, Abdul Rehman Makki, and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, officials said.
Further, he was tasked with setting up camps in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of North India in the 2000s. Hamza’s name also cropped up along with terrorist Abu Saifullah during the 2005 IISc attack on the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru.
Following the ban on Lashkar-e-Taiba’s charity wing, Jamaat-ud-Dawah, Hamza went on to float Jaish-e-Manqafa.
To avoid scrutiny by agencies, Lashkar-e-Taiba had claimed that he had a falling out with Saeed. However, this was not true.
A statement by Lahore police said that unidentified individuals fired at the vehicle of the Chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurmat-e-Rasool Pakistan at Hamdard Chowk.
This is the second attempt on his life, the previous one having taken place in May 2025. Following that, the security detail of Lashkar-e-Taiba was increased.
An Intelligence Bureau official said that the incident would significantly derail Lashkar-e-Taiba’s revival plans.
While Hamza was not operationally very active, his role as an ideologue and a powerful speaker was crucial, especially at a time when the outfit is scouting for recruits.
During Operation Sindoor, several Lashkar-e-Taiba assets, including its primary training base at Muridke, were destroyed by the Indian armed forces. His shooting could further demoralise cadres, who already felt that the leadership did not do enough to protect them during Operation Sindoor.
The operation was carried out by the Indian armed forces to avenge the Pahalgam attack. Since then, recruitment has become difficult, with many losing faith in the leadership.
Further, infiltration is said to have stalled. At such a time, Lashkar-e-Taiba was relying heavily on Hamza to boost recruitment and scale up operations.
This incident comes at a time when there have been a number of mysterious killings of terrorists in Pakistan over the past four years.
In March last year, Hafiz Saeed’s close aide Abu Qatal was allegedly shot dead by unidentified individuals in Jhelum district of Pakistan. The 43-year-old Lashkar-e-Taiba commander was Saeed’s nephew.
In March 2024, Sheikh Jaleel-ur-Rahman, Secretary of the United Jihad Council, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Jaish-e-Mohammad’s Shahid Latif, said to be the mastermind of the 2016 Pathankot attack, was gunned down in Sialkot in October 2023.
Dawood Malik, an aide of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, was shot in North Waziristan by unidentified gunmen days before Latif was killed. Maulana Ziaur Rehman, a radicalised youth, was killed in Karachi in September 2023.
In the same month, Abu Qasim was killed by unidentified men in Rawalakot. He was the main plotter of an attack in Rajouri district that killed seven and injured 13.
Sardar Hussain, a Saeed associate, was killed in Sindh province in August 2023. In March 2022, Zahoor Mistry, one of the hijackers of Indian Airlines flight IC 814, was killed by two persons in Karachi.
–IANS
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