NEW DELHI: Abu Qatal alias Qatal Sindhi, a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (Let) commander and close aide of Hafiz Saeed, who orchestrated attacks on civilians and security forces in Jammu region for past couple of years =, was killed by unidentified shooters on Saturday night in Jhelum district of Pakistan's Punjab province, according to highly placed officials in the India intelligence establishment. 

 Wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Qatal was active since 2002-03 and was key to LeT's operations in J&K for the past couple of years. Some reports suggested that Hafiz Saeed was injured in the shooting, but TVT could not independently verify that, Information gathered by Indian Agencies said Qatal, 43, was shot dead by unknown attackers around 7 pm on Saturday when he was traveling along with his security guards in the Jhelum area.

"As somebody very close to Hafiz Saeed, Qatal oversaw guerilla-type-attacks- here highly trained well equipped foreign terrorists launched, then hid in jungles of Pir Panjal area before regrouping, instead of taking on security forces," an official said.

The NIA named Qatal in a charge sheet filed last month in connection with January 2023 twin attacks on civilians in Rajouri's Dhangri village, in which seven civilians including two children were killed. The terrorist had first fired upon civilians in the village on January 1, killing seven, and then left an improvised explosive device (IED), ehich exploded the next day injuring about a dozen people.

Officials said Qatal was also behind the June 9, 2024 firing on the bus carrying pilgrims that was in its way from Shiv Khori temple in Reasi to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in katra, causing it to veer off the road and fall into deep gorge near the Teryath village of the Poni area. Nine people, including a local and the conductor of the bus, were killed while 42 received injuries in the incident.

According to a dossier prepared by India agencies, reviewed by TVT, Qatal's real name is Zia-ur-Rehman and he lived in Sanghar district in Sindh province of Pakistan. He was the main link between LeT cadres and operators in PoJK (Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir) and Sindh province and was one of the most trusted aide of Hafiz Saeed, the dossier said. Qatal had a wide network of OGWs in Poonch and Rajouri through his Old contacts.

In his charge sheet filed in February 2024, the other LeT Commanders - Saifullah alias Sajid Jutt and Mohammad Qasim.

"The trio orchestrated the recruitment and dispatch of LeT terrorists from Pakistan to target innocent civilians, particularly from the minority community in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as security personnel. The attacks were carried out under the directions of these Pakistan-based handlers," the NIA said its charge sheet.

It said that while Jutt is currently a high placed LeT commander, and was responsible for engineering the overall conspiracy from Pakistan along with the other two, Qasim is presently the right hand of highly placed LeT Commanders and Qatal had come to India in 2002-03 and was active in the Poonch- Rajouri range, along with other terrorists. It is believed that that he went back to Pakistan in 2005.

Two others charge sheeted by the NIA are Nisar Ahmed and Mushtaq Hussain, both over-ground workers (OGWs) of the LeT and residents of Tehsil Mendhar, District Poonch. They were arrested during the probe.

"It was found during investigations that they had provided logical support to the terrorits on the directions of Abu Qatal. Along with a juvenile, who was also apprehended for aiding and abetting the perpetrators, they had provided food, shelter, and other types of logistics support to the terrorists for approximately three months following the attack in Dhangri. They had also attempted to conceal evidence by destroying the mobile phone used for clandestine communications with the Pakistan-based LeT commanders," the NIA said. Nisar Ahmed had received consignments of arms, ammunition, and cash on the directions of Abu Qatal.