Shahid Latif, the mastermind behind the Pathankot attack and one of India’s most wanted terrorists, was shot dead by unknown assailants in Pakistan’s Sialkot on Wednesday. Three gunmen on a motorcycle shot Latif and two of his associates near the Noor Madina Mosque in Punjab’s Daska after the Fajr prayer. Two of them died on the spot, while one was injured.
The 41-year-old Shahid Latif was a member of the proscribed terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), and the key conspirator behind the Pathankot attack launched on January 2, 2016. He had coordinated the attack from Sialkot and sent down four JeM terrorists to Pathankot to execute it.
Latif was arrested in India in November 1994 on terror charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), and was put to trial and eventually jailed. He spent 16 years in Kot Balwal, Jammu jail, alongside Masood Azhar.
After serving his sentence in India, he was deported to Pakistan via Wagah in 2010. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe said Latif went back to the jihadi factory in Pakistan after his release in 2010. He was listed as a wanted terrorist by the Indian government. Latif was also accused in the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane in 1999.
