Islamabad, Apr 16: Amir Hamza, a founding member of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has been shot by unknown gunmen in Lahore. He’s currently admitted to a hospital and said to be in a critical condition.
According to available information, unidentified attackers opened fire on him outside a news channel office in Lahore.
This is the second time in less than a year when Hamza came under attack. Unknown men shot the terrorist outside his residence in Lahore last year in May, after which they rushed him to a hospital. Later, the Pakistani authorities reportedly heightened his security, though they did not comment on the incident.
Who Is Amir Hamza
Born in 1959, Hamza is a veteran Afghan mujahideen who co-founded LeT, a US-designated terror group, along with terrorist Hafiz Saeed between 1985 and 1986. He has been linked to multiple terrorist activities in India and across the world.
Regarded as the second most important LeT leader after Saeed, Hamza has held several key positions within the terror group over the years and has been instrumental in shaping its propaganda wing and outreach campaigns. The United States Department of the Treasury lists him as a sanctioned terrorist.
According to the Treasury Department’s 2012 statement, Hamza was part of LeT’s central advisory committee and played a key role in managing the group’s external relationships under the direct oversight of Saeed.
As of 2010, Hamza also served in an LeT-affiliated charitable organisation and held a senior position in an LeT university trust overseen by Saeed.
Seen as a top LeT ideologue, the 66-year-old is known as a fiery speaker and a prolific writer and has also been actively involved in the dissemination of LeT’s propaganda material. He edited the group’s weekly newspaper and regularly contributed articles. He also wrote several books, including the 2022 publication of Qafila Da’wat aur Shahadat (Caravan of Proselytising and Martydom) and headed LeT’s “special campaigns” department, which coordinated specific outreach and mobilisation efforts.
In mid-2010, Hamza was among three senior LeT terrorists who negotiated for the release of detained members of the organisation.
In 2018, Hamza reportedly distanced himself from Lashkar after the Pakistani government’s crackdown on LeT’s funding channels through charities like Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.
He later founded a splinter group named Jaish-e-Manqafa and continued raising funds for the LeT and used the money to fund terror operations, including in Jammu and Kashmir.
