Islamabad:
Sheikh Yousuf Afridi, a commander of the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has been shot dead by unknown gunmen in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Initial reports suggest the attackers fired multiple rounds at Afridi, a close associate of the LeT commander Hafiz Saeed, leaving no chance for his escape.
Afridi was considered an important link in the US-proscribed terror group’s operations in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, and investigators are treating his death as a targeted assassination.
The killing adds to a series of similar attacks on high-profile terrorists in Pakistan in recent months. Last month, an unidentified gunman targeted a wanted terrorist and LeT founding member Amir Hamza in Pakistan’s Lahore outside a TV station. Reports said Hamza, 67, survived the attack.
Before that, Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar’s elder brother, Muhammad Tahir Anwar, died in Pakistan, reportedly under mysterious circumstances. Anwar played a key role within Jaish-e-Mohammed and was actively involved in the terror outfit’s operations.
In March last year, a top LeT terrorist, Abu Qatal aka Qatal Sindhi, was also killed by unidentified gunmen in Pakistan’s Jhelum Sindh. He was a close aide to the mastermind behind the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, Hafiz Saeed. Qatal was allegedly the mastermind behind the Reasi attack in 2024 in Jammu and Kashmir, which killed nine people and injured 33 others.
The pattern of such killings has been evident in Pakistan since 2023, following the elimination of seven terrorists over a span of seven months. In 2026 alone, at least 30 terrorists linked to outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen were targeted by unknown gunmen across cities like Lahore, Karachi and other regions.