On September 8, some unidentified gunmen opened fire inside the Al-Qudus mosque in Rawalkot, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and killed a top terrorist leader of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The terrorist Riyaz Ahmad alias Abu Qasim was going for Fajr prayers at the mosque..
Riyaz Ahmed was one of the main architects of the terror incident in Rajouri district’s Dhangri on January 1 that killed seven people and left 13 more injured. The village was attacked by terrorists who opened fire indiscriminately. Furthermore, they had placed an improvised explosive device (IED) which detonated the following morning.
The authorities stated that the terrorist was from the Jammu region and reached Pakistan in 1999. They disclosed that he was responsible for the resurgence of terrorism in the border areas of Poonch and Rajouri. He operated from the Lashkar-e-Taiba base camp in Muridke but had recently shifted to Rawalakot.
The officials mentioned that Riyaz Ahmad was shot dead by unidentified shooters inside the Al-Qudus mosque in the Rawalakot region during pre-dawn prayers, citing reports from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK).
They further added, “Ahmad mostly operated from the Lashkar-e-Taiba base camp in Muridke but had recently shifted to Rawalakot. He was a close associate of Sajjad Jaat, the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s chief commander, and also looked after the outfit’s finances.”
The terrorist’s murder made him the fourth commander of a dreaded terror organisation functioning out of Pakistan to be assassinated this year. Earlier, some unknown perpetrators shot and killed a senior commander of the outlawed Hizbul Mujahideen in Rawalpindi, Pakistan in March. Bashir Ahmad Peer, also known as Imtiyaz Alam, was a Pakistani national who had lived in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara area for more than 15 years.
Syed Khalid Raza, former Al-Badr Mujahideen commander was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the port city of Karachi in February.
Aijaz Ahmad Ahangar, a Kashmiri terrorist who served as a high commander of the international terrorist organisation Islamic State was discovered dead earlier this year in Afghanistan’s Kunar Province. He was reportedly executed by the Taliban.
