Sheikh Yousaf Afridi, associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and a close aide of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday, police said.
A police source said unknown armed assailants opened indiscriminate fire on Afridi, killing him on the spot in Landi Kotal in the Khyber region, reported PTI. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Afridi was considered a key figure within the regional structure of the banned LeT and was believed to have played a role in recruitment and coordination of the group’s activities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
An official of Saeed’s banned Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) said that Afridi was a “renowned religious scholar and belonged to the Zakhakhel tribe of Khyber and was regarded as a prominent scholar of the Ahl-e-Hadith (Salafi) school of thought.”
“He was targeted when unidentified attackers sprayed him with bullets and managed to flee the scene. It should be remembered that extremist groups like -- Khawarij (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) -- are currently facing strong intellectual and practical challenges from Salafi scholars,” he said, as quoted by PTI.
“The incident has sparked widespread anger in the area, and local authorities have launched an investigation to apprehend those responsible for his killing,” the police source said.
The killing comes over a week after Amir Hamza, a founding leader of LeT, suffered bullet injuries in an attack in Lahore. Hamza is considered the second most important leader of the group after Saeed, who has been in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail since 2019 after being convicted in terror financing cases.
