New Delhi (Sputnik): Mudasir Ahmed Khan, the terror mastermind of the recent Pulwama suicide bomb attack that killed 40 Indian paramilitary policemen, is believed to have been gunned down by Indian security forces in an operation that lasted into the wee hours of Monday, said news agency PTI. Mudasir Khan belonged to the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist outfit and also went by the nickname "Mohammed Bhai".
Besides the recent terror incident at Pulwama on 14 February in which 40 Indian security forces died, the terrorist had allegedly played a role in attacks on a camp of paramilitary forces in January 2018 killing five and against an army camp in Sunjawan in February 2018, in which six personnel and a civilian were killed.
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Elaborating on the operation that did him in, the media agency reported that the security forces on specific intelligence inputs had cordoned off the area where it was believed that Khan and other militants were holed up.
During the search operations that lasted well beyond 12:00 am Monday, the security forces were fired upon by the trapped militants. Mudasir Khan is believed to have been killed along with two others in the retaliatory fire.
23-year-old Khan had a graduate degree and had trained as an electrician. He joined JeM in 2017 as an "overground" worker and then subsequently made it to the organisation's operational terror unit. He is the eldest son of a labourer.
The PTI report read that Khan had been identified by Indian agencies as the brains behind the Pulwama terror attack that took place on 14 February, in which an explosive-laden vehicle was rammed into an Indian paramilitary convoy killing 40 personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). He is alleged to have arranged the vehicle and explosives used in the suicide strike. The suicide attacker, Adil Ahmed Dar, had reportedly been in constant touch with him.