Shahid Latif, the alleged mastermind of the 2016 Pathankot terror attack, was shot dead Tuesday by unidentified gunmen in Pakistan’s Sialkot. The 41-year-old was accused of helping four terrorists infiltrate the Pathankot Air Force station and kill seven personnel. Latif, a member of the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, was on India’s list of ‘most-wanted terrorists’.
Latif, born in Pakistan’s Gurjanwala, came to the attention of Indian agencies after his arrest in 1994 in a terror case. He was arrested again in 1996 on narcotics and terror charges. After being put on trial, he was eventually jailed. In 1999, his release was demanded by the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists who hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC-814. The government refused to set him free but released Masood Azhar instead to free 189 passengers and crew.
In 2010, India deported Latif and 24 other terrorists to Pakistan, claiming they had completed their sentences and could not be legally detained. The Indian government listed Latif as a “wanted terrorist” later that year. Latif’s killing is part of a series of attacks on terrorists in Pakistan.
Last month, Mufti Qaisar Farooq and Ziaur-Rehman of Lashkar-e-Taiba were killed in Karachi, and in February, top Hizbul commander Bashir Ahmad Peer was killed in Rawalpindi.