Sri Lanka cricket team attack mastermind killed in Afghanistan

A dreaded Pakistani terrorist linked to the 2009 attack on Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore was killed in a joint operation by Afghan—US special forces in Afghanistan bordering Pakistan, a media report said on Sunday.

Qari Ajmal, a leader of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangi (LeJ) who was involved in a number of high-profile attacks, was killed in eastern Afghanistan’s Aurgon area of Paktika province, The Express Tribune quoted sources close to Taliban commanders as saying.

He had fled to Waziristan after the attack on Sri Lankan cricket team in which seven policemen were killed and seven players including Mahela Jayawaredene, Kumar Sangakkara, Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Samaraweera, Tharanga Paranavitana and Chaminda Vaas were injured.

Ajmal was associated with Hakimullah Mehsood, the chief of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who was killed in November 2013. He later fled to Afghanistan like many other Pakistani militants and had been living with Mehsud Taliban in Paktika province bordering Pakistan.

Ajmal is the second senior Pakistani militant commander to have been killed in Afghanistan in nearly two weeks. On September 25, leading Pakistani Taliban commander Azam Tariq and his son were killed in Paktika.

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 involved in the attack on the Sri Lankan team were killed in a police encounter in Lahore’s Manawan area.

(The Hindu)