Lahore, Apr 28: Sheikh Yousaf Afridi, a close aide of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and a key figure linked to banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said.
According to reports, the incident took place on Sunday in the Landi Kotal area of the Khyber region, around 250 kilometres from Islamabad.
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Police sources said unidentified assailants opened indiscriminate fire on Afridi, killing him on the spot before fleeing the scene.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Afridi was reportedly considered an important figure within the regional network of Lashkar-e-Taiba and was allegedly involved in recruitment and coordination activities of the banned organisation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Authorities have launched an investigation to identify and arrest those involved in the killing.
An official linked to the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) said Afridi was a religious scholar from the Zakhakhel tribe of Khyber and was associated with the Ahl-e-Hadith school of thought.
The killing comes days after another attack in Lahore in which Amir Hamza, a founding leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba and considered one of the outfit’s top figures after Hafiz Saeed, was injured in a firing incident.
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Hafiz Saeed has been lodged in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail since 2019 after being convicted in multiple terror financing cases. (PTI)
