United Jihad Council mourns Lashkar terrorist shot dead in Pakistan by unidentified gunmen

New Delhi: In yet another proof of Pakistan harbouring terrorists, United Jihad Council, an umbrella organisation of various terror groups, has issued a statement from PoK mourning the death of a key Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist who was the brain behind the 2006 attack on the RSS headquarters.

Razaullah Nizamani Khalid, alias Abu Saifullah Khalid, was shot dead by three unidentified gunmen in Sindh province of Pakistan on Sunday. According to media reports from the neighbouring country, Khalid was declared brought dead at hospital after being shot, and the incident was termed as a case of personal enmity.

He had left his residence at Matli Sunday afternoon and was gunned down by assailants near a crossing at Badni in Sindh province, the media reports said.

The UJC, which is headed by Syed Sallahuddin, a specially designated terrorist by the US State Department and wanted in India for various terror attacks, "praised" Khalid's role.

A statement was issued by the terror amalgam from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Khalid used to head the terror operations of LeT from Nepal in the mid-2000s and had many aliases including Vinode Kumar, Mohammed Salim and Razaullah. He was involved in multiple terror attacks in India.

This statement of the UJC has further strengthened the case that Pakistan and the areas of Kashmir under its illegal occupation were being used for promoting terrorism in India.

A close associate of Abu Anas of Lashkar, Khalid was the mastermind of the attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters at Nagpur in which all three terrorists were shot dead.

Besides the RSS attack, the Lashkar operative was involved in the Indian Institute of Science terror attack of 2005 in Bengaluru, in which IIT professor Munish Chandra Puri was killed and four others injured. The terrorists had escaped from the scene. Later, police investigated the case and chargesheeted Abu Anas, who is still at large.

Khalid was also the mastermind of the deadly 2008 attack on a CRPF camp at Rampur in Uttar Pradesh, in which seven personnel and a civilian were killed.

The two terrorists escaped under the cover of darkness.

From the mid-2000s, Khalid was the in-charge of the Nepal module of LeT, responsible for the recruitment of cadres, providing financial and logistic support and facilitating the movement of LeT operatives across the Indo-Nepal border.

Khalid was working closely with LeT's so-called "launching commanders"  -- Azam Cheema alias Babaji and Yaqoob (LeT's chief accountant).

Khalid left Nepal and returned to Pakistan after Indian security agencies exposed the module. He later worked closely with several leaders of LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawah, including Yusuf Muzammil, LeT commander for Jammu and Kashmir, Muzammil Iqbal Hashmi and Muhammad Yusuf Taibi.

Khalid was tasked by the LeT and JuD leadership in Pakistan to undertake the recruitment of fresh cadres from the areas of Badin and Hyderabad districts of Sindh and collect funds for the organisation.