&w=3840&q=100)
Saifullah Khalid: Who's the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, mastermind of 2006 attack on RSS headquarters, killed in Pakistan?
Saifullah Khalid, who went by several aliases including Razaullah Nizamani Khalid, has reportedly been shot dead by three unknown assailants in Pakistan's Sindh province. The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander was behind three major terror attacks in India, including the 2006 attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters at Nagpur read more
Saifullah Khalid, a dreaded terrorist behind several major terror attacks in India, has been killed. A commander of Hafiz Saeed's Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), he was reportedly shot dead by unknown assailants in Pakistan's Sindh province on Sunday (May 18).
Also known as Vinode Kumar, Khalid was the head of the Nepal terror module. His death adds to the series of mysterious killings of high-profile terrorists in Pakistan in recent years.
But what terror attacks was he responsible for in India?
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
We will explain.
Who is Saifullah Khalid?
Saifullah Khalid, who used many aliases including Mohammed Salim, was the mastermind of the terror attack on the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at Nagpur in 2006. All three terrorists were shot dead in an encounter with the police.
Before the RSS attack, Khalid was accused of plotting the shooting at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru in 2005. IIT professor Munish Chandra Puri was killed and four others were injured in the terror attack.
The terrorists were, however, successful in fleeing the scene. After the police investigation, Lashkar terrorist Abu Anas, a close associate of Khalid, was chargesheeted. Anas remains at large.
Khalid, alias Razaullah Nizamani Khalid, was also behind the attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp at Rampur in Uttar Pradesh in 2008. Seven CRPF personnel and a civilian had died in the terror attack. The two terrorists had escaped in the darkness.
Khalid became the head of the LeT's Nepal module around mid-2000. He was responsible for recruiting cadres, providing financial and logistic support and enabling the movement of LeT operatives across the Indo-Nepal border, reported PTI.
According to India Today, the LeT commander married a local woman, Nagma Banu, in Nepal when he was living there under a false identity.
Khalid reportedly collaborated with Lashkar's 'launching commanders' — Azam Cheema, alias Babaji, and the terror group's chief accountant, Yaqoob.
According to ThePrint's sources, Khalid shifted back to Pakistan after Indian intelligence exposed the Nepal module of the LeT. There he worked with several leaders of the LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawah, including Yusuf Muzammil, LeT commander for Jammu and Kashmir, Muzammil Iqbal Hashmi and Muhammad Yusuf Taibi.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Khalid was also assigned to recruit cadres from the Badin and Hyderabad districts of Pakistan's Sindh, along with collecting funds for the terror organisation.
Lashkar's Saifullah Khalid shot dead
Saifullah Khalid was reportedly killed by three unknown gunmen in the city of Badin.
'He left his residence at Matli this afternoon and was gunned down by assailants near a crossing at Badni in Sindh province,' officials in New Delhi told PTI on Sunday.
Khalid was declared brought dead at a hospital in Sindh, with reports saying it was a case of personal enmity.
Mysterious killings of terrorists in Pakistan
There has been a surge in unexplained killings of high-profile terrorists in Pakistan in recent years.
In March this year, Hafiz Saeed 's close aide, Abu Qatal, was allegedly shot dead by unknown assailants in the Jhelum district of Pakistan's Punjab province. The 43-year-old LeT commander was reported to be Saeed's nephew. Following his murder, the security of Saeed was increased.
Sheikh Jameel-ur-Rehman, the self-styled secretary general of the United Jihad Council, was found dead in mysterious circumstances in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Abbottabad in March 2024.
Another terrorist was killed by unknown assailants in Pakistan. Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist Shahid Latif, believed to be the mastermind behind the 2016 Pathankot attack, was gunned down in Sialkot in October 2023.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Dawood Malik, a known aide of India's wanted terrorist Maulana Masood Azhar , was shot dead in North Waziristan by unidentified gunmen days before Latif's killing.
Two motorbike-borne assailants shot dead Maulana Ziaur Rehman in Pakistan's Karachi in September 2023. He radicalised youth to take up arms and wage jihad against India.
The same month, Abu Qasim Kashmiri was assassinated by unknown men while praying inside the Al-Qudus mosque in Rawalakot. He was believed to be the main plotter of the Dhangri attack in Rajouri district that killed seven and injured another 13.
In August 2023, Sardar Hussain Arain, Hafiz Saeed's associate, was killed in Qazi Ahmad town in Sindh's Shaheed Benazirabad district.
Paramjit Singh Panjwar, a Pakistan-based Khalistani terrorist, was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen in Lahore in May 2023.
Bashir Ahmad Peer alias Imtiyaz Alam, a close aide of Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, was killed at point-blank range by the assailants outside a shop in Rawalpindi in February 2023.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
A week later, former Al-Badr Mujahideen commander Syed Khalid Raza was shot dead in Karachi by unknown men on bikes.
In March 2022, Zahoor Mistry, one of the hijackers of Indian Airlines flight IC 814, was killed by two bike-borne assailants in Karachi's Akhtar colony.
With inputs from agencies
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News18
20 minutes ago
- News18
LeT, Jaish Tap Bangladesh Radical Networks, Use Campuses To Target Indian Students
Last Updated: Top intelligence sources reveal Bangladesh-based groups are now providing legitimate access to LeT and Jaish in universities, where they target Indian students for radicalisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed have joined hands with radical groups in Bangladesh, opening a new front to radicalise Indian youth, CNN-News18 has learnt from top intelligence sources. A recent speech by Saifullah Kasuri, aka Khalid, in Kasur, Lahore, which has gone viral and is now circulating among radical groups, referenced Bengal and the division of the region on May 28. The speech is being actively used in radical circles to fuel propaganda. Bangladesh-based groups are now providing legitimate access to LeT and Jaish in universities, where they target Indian students for radicalisation. These India-based groups are also collaborating with Jamaat-e-Islami, creating a cross-border ideological network. LeT's exploitation of Bangladeshi universities is built on three key pillars: ideological alignment with local radicals, institutional decay, and cross-border impunity. Backed by ISI, LeT operates through multi-layered strategies combining ideological networks, institutional vulnerabilities, and cross-border operational logistics. LeT coordinates with Jamaat's student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir to infiltrate campuses. Shibir grants access to student networks, hostels, and Islamic study circles, which are then used for recruitment. Following the restoration of Jamaat-e-Islami's legitimacy post-2024, this access has become more streamlined. Groups such as Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), both linked to LeT, operate madrasas near universities. These madrasas indoctrinate students with Wahhabi-Salafi ideologies, framing education as jihad for Islamic revival. UK-based front organisations have also funded radical madrasas that later recruit university students. Shibir members invite Indian students into Islamic study circles, blending religious discussions with LeT propaganda videos. Events at the University of Dhaka have glorified Kashmir terrorists killed as martyrs. LeT's attack footage from India is shared through encrypted apps such as Telegram and Signal, with videos from incidents like the Pahalgam attacks being circulated to incite anti-India sentiments. Radical groups offer scholarships, flood relief, and financial aid to economically vulnerable Indian students. Following the 2024 floods, Jamaat distributed aid along with radical literature. Senior student 'mentors" isolate Indian youth, presenting radicalisation as identity preservation, while enforcing conservative dress codes such as beards and veils to build group loyalty. LeT is also using Bangladesh as a transit hub. Indian students radicalised in Dhaka or Chittagong are sent to LeT camps in Pakistan via Myanmar or Nepal, often under the guise of educational tours. They portray India as oppressing Muslims, leveraging events like the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and incidents of communal violence, such as the 2023 temple vandalism to validate jihadist narratives. The post-2024 interim government in Bangladesh lifted bans on Jamaat-e-Islami and allied groups, appointing radicals to key positions, including the Hizb-ut-Tahrir founder as Home Secretary. This has enabled LeT affiliates like Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) to operate openly on campuses. Government concessions to Hefazat-e-Islam, such as compulsory Islamic education, allow madrasas to teach jihadist ideologies unchallenged. Universities have also adopted gender-segregated curricula, normalising extremist norms. Bangladesh's lax NGO oversight, coupled with hundi remittances and money laundering—both significant contributors to its GDP—allow LeT to mask funding as charitable donations. LeT receives funds via NGOs from the Middle East, Gulf, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, under the pretext of reviving Islamic heritage and campus charities. Radicalised students returning to India are deployed as operatives. HuJI-B, JMB, and LeT proxies maintain around 40 sleeper cells in Assam and Nagaland, using Bangladesh-trained Indians to carry out attacks. LeT has also utilised Bangladeshi routes for India-bound operations. The 2025 Pahalgam attack involved a LeT operative who had met a Bangladeshi official prior to the operation. Anti-minority violence in Bangladesh — where nearly 2,200 Hindu-targeted incidents were reported in 2024 — spills over into India, intensifying Hindu-Muslim tensions and aiding in jihadist recruitment.
Mint
27 minutes ago
- Mint
Air India CEO Campbell Wilson says Pakistan airspace ban adding to flying costs
The continuing ban for Indian airlines in using Pakistani airspace is adding flying hours for non-stop flights and will weigh down Air India Ltd.'s path to profitability, its top executive said in an interview. 'The impact is significant but we have been able to sustain non-stop operations' to most destinations in North America and Europe, Air India Chief Executive Officer Campbell Wilson said in a Bloomberg TV interview Monday. 'It'll certainly hit our bottomline.' The airspace curbs have increased flying time for west-bound flights from India by an hour or so, according to Wilson, who declined to give details on the discussions the Tata Group-owned carrier was having with stakeholders on this front. The armed conflict between India and Pakistan that erupted May 7 was the worst between the nuclear-armed neighbors in decades, with both sides trading drone and missile strikes besides artillery and small arms fire along their shared border. It was triggered by a gruesome attack on civilians in Indian-controlled Kashmir on April 22. While a ceasefire was announced on May 10, Pakistan has extended the airspace ban for Indian airlines until June 24. Geopolitical strife has been complicating flying routes and business models for airlines globally in the past few years as they skirt conflict zones. Tariffs are also now a closely watched development for the sector. 'We want certainty. Uncertainty is difficult when you are making investment decisions,' Wilson said, adding that this was a common theme at the ongoing aviation industry event in New Delhi. So far, Air India sees no impact of tariffs on travel flows for its geography and markets. The recent showdown between the US President Donald Trump and Harvard University has added another layer of complication for international fliers especially those looking to study in American institutions. Pointing to anecdotal stories, Wilson said that there seems to be some shift in the large student population from India that usually vies to be on US campuses. 'You hear people thinking of alternatives,' he said. 'Obviously, it's a relatively new development, so people are still digesting it but it does seem that people are more willing to look at alternative locations than perhaps they were before.' Wilson, who steered the massive merger of Tata-owned carriers Air India and Vistara last year, declined to comment on media stories on the airline's discussions with plane makers to buy more narrowbody jets. Air India, the unprofitable carrier which the Tata conglomerate acquired from the Indian government in 2021, will start receiving new planes it had ordered toward the end of this year, according to Wilson. The deliveries are 'later than we hoped, slower than we hoped,' he said. 'It is constraining our ambitions a little bit in the short term but the long term opportunity for this market is massive, so we are very, very confident.' More stories like this are available on Disclaimer: This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
Economic Times
28 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Mphasis, Persistent, and other IT stocks fall up to 6% amid renewed US-China trade tensions
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel Shares of Indian IT companies fell sharply on Monday, with some stocks losing up to 6.5%, as renewed trade tensions between the US and China spooked investors. The Nifty IT index slipped over 1% to 36,948 in morning trade, extending losses for the second straight selloff follows a social media post by US President Donald Trump last week, accusing China of violating a recent trade agreement. Trump claimed that China had "totally violated" the deal, which he said was made to prevent further economic instability in China caused by earlier tariffs.'China has totally violated its agreement with us. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!' Trump posted on his platform, Truth IT companies earn a significant portion of their revenue from the US market. Past tariff battles between the US and China have triggered fears of a US recession and rising inflation, which tend to weigh heavily on IT trade tensions had eased briefly, the latest escalation has reignited concerns, dragging IT stocks Mphasis led the fall, tumbling 6.5% to Rs 2,392, after reports that FedEx Corp. had chosen Accenture Plc to handle much of its IT work, ending a long-standing relationship with Mphasis. The client accounted for 8% of the company's revenue. Persistent Systems dropped nearly 3% to Rs 5,471. Shares of Tech Mahindra and Wipro slipped over 1%, while HCL Tech Infosys , LTI Mindtree, and Coforge traded with marginal response, China accused the US of violating the trade deal and warned of strong retaliatory measures. In a statement on June 2, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said, 'If the US insists on its own way and continues to damage China's interests, China will continue to take resolute and forceful measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.': Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)
