SAA event in Jammu and Kashmir, Rawalkot in Poonch District area, Pakistan on Fri 8th September 2023

Unidentified assailants on September 8 shot dead a top terrorist ‘commander’ of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), identified as Riyaz Ahmad alias Abu Qasim, inside Al-Qudus mosque in Rawalkot town of Poonch District in Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoK), reports India Today. Riyaz Ahmad had come from Kotli to offer prayers, when he was shot in the head at point-blank range. He was one of the main conspirators behind the terror attack at Dhangri in Rajouri District of Jammu and Kashmir, India, on January 1, 2023, in which seven people died and 13 were. Originally hailing from the Jammu region, Ahmad exfiltrated across the border in 1999. He was considered as the brains behind the revival of terrorism in the twin border Districts of Poonch and Rajouri. Ahmad mostly operated from the LeT base camp in Muridke but had recently shifted to Rawalkot. He was a close associate of Sajjad Jaat, the LeT's ‘chief commander’, and also looked after the outfit's finances.|