Slain Maulana Shahid Latif’s security guard Zulfiqar Ali on Wednesday said that six unidentified people came to Noori-i-Madina Masjid in Mandike Guraya Chowk on motorbikes and three of them joined the prayers, as per reports.
He said that some gunshots were heard and within seconds the assailants fled the scene, adding that the gunmen had shot at him too but he remained unhurt.
According to the police, prayer leader Maulana Ahad, Maulana Muhammad Latif, and his security guard Hashim Ali were seriously injured in the firing, Dawn reported.
Police had said Maulana Latif died on the spot due to a head injury while Maulana Ahad and the security guard were immediately shifted to the Daska Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in critical condition.
The guard succumbed to bullet wounds while Maulana Ahad was shifted to a hospital in Gujranwala where he also expired, Dawn reported.
Eyewitnesses Qamar Abbas and Salim Warik, also offering prayers, said that the age-group of the suspects was between 20 and 25 years.
Sialkot District Police Officer (DPO) Muhammad Hasan Iqbal said that this could be a targeted killing and an incident of terrorism, adding that the police investigation teams have obtained all the evidence and statements of local people from the spot.
To a question, the DPO had confirmed Muhammad Shahid Latif had been an activist of the banned Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), Dawn reported.
Shahid Latif, one of India’s most wanted terrorists and also a key conspirator in the 2016 Pathankot terror attack case was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Pakistan’s Sialkot.
Latif was shot dead inside a mosque. The police are yet to identify the assailants and identify the attackers.
According to Indian agencies, he had guided the four terrorists to carry out an attack at the Pathankot airbase in 2016.
Interestingly, he was released by the Indian government in 2010 along with 24 other terrorists.
