The case of Amir Hamza, a former brigadier general in the Pakistan Army, is the latest case of a Pakistani being killed in ISI-controlled terror attacks in India.
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Bhaswal Kumar Delhi
Amir Hamza, a former Pakistani brigadier general and key Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) operative who Indian counter-terrorism agencies believe was one of the masterminds of the 2018 attack on the Sunjwan military base in Jammu and Kashmir, was killed by unidentified gunmen in Pakistan’s Punjab province late on Monday, The Times of India reported.
According to the report, Hamza, who was also involved in other ISI operations against India, is the second Pakistani to be killed in connection with the Seungjuwang attack, which left six soldiers dead and more than a dozen wounded at the Seungjuwang military base.
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Last November, another Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander, Khoja Shahid (alias Mir Mujahid), suspected to be the main plotter of the Seungjuwang attack, was found decapitated near the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
According to Pakistani media reports, the attack took place in the Jhelum district of Pakistan’s Punjab province, when Hamza’s car was ambushed by four unidentified men on two motorcycles.
According to Jhelum police, the unidentified men started firing indiscriminately to ensure that their target was killed and then fled the scene.
According to a ToI report, Hamza’s wife and daughter were in the car with him when he was attacked. They were also injured and he told police that he had no personal animosity towards anyone. Pakistani police have maintained that this was a targeted killing.
The attack was also witnessed by Hamza’s brother, who was following Hamza’s car on a motorbike, according to Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune.
Rescue teams rushed to the scene and confirmed the retired brigadier general dead at the scene. Pakistani police told local media they were investigating the attack as a “blind murder” and had registered a case, adding that investigations into targeted attacks were also underway.
Hamza’s last role was as chairman of the Emergency Services Academy.
Hamza’s case is the latest in a string of killings of Pakistanis linked to ISI-led terror attacks in India.
In December, Abu Hanzala, alias Adnan Ahmed, a senior member of the Lebanese Liberation Front who had masterminded a series of attacks on security forces in the Kashmir Valley, was shot dead by unidentified men in Karachi.
In October, Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Shahid Latif, a key leader of the fidayeen forces that attacked the Pathankot airbase in 2016, was killed by unidentified gunmen at a mosque in Sialkot.