Kamal Ghorui
In the latest in a series of mysterious drive-by shootings at high-profile terror ideologues and commanders in Pakistan, Lashkar-eTaiba (LeT) co-founder Amir Hamza (67) was shot by unidentified gunmen in Lahore on Thursday. This marks the second assassination attempt on Hamza, a USdesignated terrorist, over the past year; he had survived a shooting in May 2025.The attack was reminiscent of a sequence in Bollywood blockbuster ‘Dhurandhar 2’ depicting the killing of Zahoor Mistry in Karachi by motorcycle-borne assailants. Hamza had stepped out of the office of News 24 (Pakistan) following a TV appearance along with Judge Nazir Ahmad Ghazi when two bikers, presumably locals aware of the area’s layout, fired multiple shots at his car near a bus stop before fleeing. Hamza was rushed to hospital with a gunshot injury to his shoulder.In the early 2000s, Hamza had been entrusted with setting up bases in India. He was among the terrorists allegedly involved in the 2005 attack on Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru.The attack, which comes amidst top Lashkar commanders announcing, through video messages, revenge for the destruction of their Muridke camp during last year’s Operation Sindoor, follows multiple killings of LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists in recent times.LeT’s political wing PMML strongly condemned the attack, saying it reflected a failure of Pakistan govt. A letter seeking security was signed by LeT commander Saifullah Kasuri, Hafiz Talha Saeed, Hafiz Abdul Rauf, among others. They added that Hamza had brought together individuals from different schools of thought on a single platform, Tehreek-e-Hurmat-e-Rasool.Hamza was declared a global terrorist by US in 2012. The top LeT ideologue is referred to as ‘Afghan Mujahideen’ and is close to Hafiz Saeed and Abdul Rehman Makki, who had appointed him to Lashkar’s central committee.According to the US treasury department, Hamza actively maintained Lashkar’s relations with other groups under the guidance of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed. In 2018, Saeed asked him to form another outfit named Jaish-e-Manqafa in the wake of the ban on Lashkar and Jamat-ud-Dawah.
