Handler of Pathankot attackers is shot dead

Shahid Latif, a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) commander and key handler of terrorists who carried out the attack on the Pathankot Indian Air Force (IAF) base in 2016, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Pakistan's Sialkot area, according to Indian intelligence officials.

- Neeraj Chauhan

Designated an "individual terrorist" under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), Latif, released in 2010 by India, was attacked inside a mosque in Sialkot's Daska town by two persons who reportedly fled on a motorbike after shooting him, said one of the people cited above.

"He was very close to JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar and played an important role in the outfit's planning and launching of cadres into India," said a counter-terrorism official who didn't want to be named.

Latif, 54, was the main handler of terrorists sent for special operations to India and his death comes soon after the killing of an alleged Lashkar-eTaiba (LeT) member. Mufti Qaiser Farooq, who was said to be close to LeT chief Hafiz Saeed, in Karachi late last month (he too was gunned  down by unidentified people).

Earlier this year, Paramjit Singh Panjwar, head of the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF), was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen in Pakistan's Lahore on May 6.

A native of More in Gujranwala (Pakistan), Latif was arrested by Indian agencies in Kashmir in 1994.