Qari Ajmal — a leading Pakistani militant leader wanted for organising the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore has been ‘killed’ in eastern Afghanistan, sources close to militants revealed on Sunday.
The attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team claimed the lives of seven police officials and left seven players including Mahela Jayawaredene, Kumar Sangakkara, Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Samaraweera, Tharanga Paranavitana and Chaminda Vaas injured.
Ajmal, a leader of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangi (LeJ), had fled to Waziristan after the attack and was associated with Hakimullah Mehsood, the chief of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who was killed in November 2013, tribal sources said. He later fled to Afghanistan like many other Pakistani militants and had been living with Mehsud Taliban in the Afghan province of Paktika, which borders Pakistan.
Sources close to the militants told The Express Tribune that Qari Ajmal was killed in a joint operation by foreign and Afghan troops in Aurgon area of Paktika.
Ajmal is the second senior Pakistani militant commander to have been killed in Afghanistan in nearly two weeks. The US-led Nato and Afghan forces killed leading Pakistani Taliban commander Azam Tariq and his son in Paktika earlier on September 25.
Separately, Omar Mansoor alias Naray, the mastermind of the brutal Army Public School (APS) attack that killed nearly 140 students and staff members in Peshawar, was killed in a US drone strike in eastern Nangarhar province, which also borders Pakistan.
Tribal sources say that the foreign and Afghan forces also arrested Naseer Waeer, a senior Taliban commander of Hakikmullah group during the operation in Paktika. Most Taliban relocated to Paktika from Waziristan as a result of ongoing military operations, according to security forces.
In August, three suspected terrorists, who were allegedly involved in the attack on the Sri Lankan team, were killed in a police encounter in Lahore’s Manawan area.
Editorial Note by CRSS: This is a positive development for CRSS which conducted its first round of Beyond Boundaries Track 1.5/2 project inviting Afghan policymakers and journalists in its first phase which spanned from November 2015 till March 2016. The second round is going to commence in October 2016 with the arrival of high-level Afghan policymakers & independent analysts. It will have a total of six meetings that will continue until the end of March 2017. This project is meant to improve the bilateral relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Such confidence-building measures are much needed for both countries to address their decades-old bilateral tensions, misperceptions and distrust.
To read about CRSS’ Beyond Boundaries’ project, click here
This article originally appeared in The Express Tribune, October 09, 2016. Original link.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in the article are not necessarily supported by CRSS.