A senior commander of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has died under suspicious circumstances in Islamabad, days after another senior operative claimed that more than 30 members of the organisation had been killed by "unknown men" across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
According to an media report, Qari Saeed Abdul Aziz fell ill and collapsed at the entrance of Quba Mosque in Islamabad after having food at an unfamiliar restaurant.
He had gone to the mosque to offer prayers when he suddenly collapsed. The exact cause of his death has not been established.
According to the report, Aziz was associated with an LeT department that provided assistance to the families of terrorists killed during encounters in Jammu and Kashmir. His sudden death has added to growing reports of unexplained killings targeting members of the Pakistan-based terror organisation.
The latest incident comes shortly after a video surfaced showing Rizwan Hanif, described as a senior LeT operative, claiming that more than 30 members of the banned organisation had been killed over the past three to four years.
According to Hanif, the killings took place in several Pakistani cities, including Peshawar, Karachi and Rawalpindi, as well as Rawalakot and Muzaffarabad in PoK.
Hanif claimed that the attackers were "unknown men". He also alleged that Indian agencies were behind the targeted killings. India has rejected the allegation.
The video is significant because it represents a rare public admission by a member of the terror network about a series of killings targeting its own cadres.
Lashkar-e-Taiba is one of the Pakistan-based terror organisations responsible for attacks against India. The group was behind the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, in which 166 people were killed.
The United Nations designated LeT in 2005 over its links to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Pakistan has officially banned the organisation, although India has repeatedly accused Islamabad of failing to dismantle its wider terror infrastructure.
According to the report, Indian security agencies have reportedly verified the authenticity of the video featuring Hanif and identified him as a senior LeT terrorist wanted by India.
Hanif's claims have nevertheless not been independently established, and there has been no official confirmation of who was responsible for the killings he described.
Against this backdrop, the death of Qari Saeed Abdul Aziz is likely to draw further attention to the reported targeting of LeT members inside Pakistan.
According to reports, Aziz had eaten at an unfamiliar eatery before reaching the mosque. He later collapsed at the mosque's gate and died. There has been no confirmed finding establishing whether his death was linked to poisoning, a medical condition or any deliberate act.
The circumstances therefore remain unclear.
The deaths and disappearances of several Pakistan-based militants in recent years have frequently been attributed in local and Indian media reports to "unknown gunmen". However, responsibility for individual incidents has often remained unconfirmed.
Source: Firstpost