Top Kashmiri Militants Killed In Pakistan, Afghanistan

SRINAGAR: In the last few days, two top Kashmiri militants are reported killed in different incidents in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Both of them were designated terrorists by the MHA and were sought by the law in India.

In one incident banned Hizb ul Mujahedeen’s “launching commander” was assassinated in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He was identified as Bashir Ahmad Peer, alias Imtiyaz Alam.

In another assassination Ejaz Ahmad Ahanger, a Kashmir-born insurgent is thought to have been assassinated in southern Afghanistan along with intelligence personnel and members of his family.

Reports appearing in the media suggest that Peer was killed on Monday night outside a store in Rawalpindi by a close-range assailant.

Back home, the MHA under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act declared Peer as a terrorist on October 4, 2022, for his involvement in terrorism-related activities, including facilitating terrorist infiltration into Kupwara.

Peer, originally from the Babarpora neighbourhood in the Kupwara had taken up residence in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. According to reports, Peer was assassinated by militants of rival organisations after disagreements arose between various organisations over a variety of problems, including funding.

The statement issued on the day he was declared a designated terrorist, offers a lot of details about him. “Peer participated in a number of online propaganda groups to bring together ex-militants and other cadres for the expansion of activities of Hizb-Ul-Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba, and other terrorist organisations,” the statement said.

Ejaz Ahmad Ahanger is reported to have been killed last week. The authorities have informed the family that the militant leader “had slept off”.

“The police summoned my older brother to give him the news a few days ago. I do not know whether this is true or not, but I have been crying since then,” Fahmida Shafi, Ahanger’s sister, has told The Print website.

Afghan intelligence has identified Ahanger as the mastermind of the Kasargod-born Muhammad Muhsin suicide bombing in March 2020, which claimed the life of a security guard and 24 worshippers at the Gurdwara Kart-e Parwan in Kabul. Ijas Kallukettiya Purayil, a former dentist from Kasargod in Kerala, was also suspected to have carried out a suicide attack at Jalalabad under the direction of Ahanger.

In addition to his two children, Sabira Ahanger, who was born in 1997, and Tooba Ahanger, who was born in 2001, Ejaz is believed to have left behind his first wife, Rukhsana Ahanger.

A resident of Srinagar, Ahangar was designated a terrorist by the MHA in January 2023. He was an Islamic State member who was earlier jailed in Afghanistan and fled the jail after Kabul fell to the Taliban. The Print report said Ahanger married thrice since 1995.

The MHA notification said Ahanger “is wanted by J&K Police” for his links with Al-Qaida and other global terrorist groups. He is alleged to have been engaged in re-starting the ISIS channels in India, the MHA said in the notification. Besides, he was accused of providing traction to militancy in Kashmir Valley and has initiated an online India-centric ISIS propaganda magazine.