Talha Saeed, Lashkar-e-Taiba second-in-command and its chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed son, narrowly escaped assassination in a bombing inside a refrigerator shop located in Pakistan’s Lahore on Saturday evening.
According to Firstpost, at least seven other Lashkar supporters were critically injured in the attack and one person was killed.
The bombing, which was at first described as an accidental cylinder blast, reportedly targeted a religious gathering inside a refrigerator shop on Township College Road in Lahore. Talha Saeed was waiting to speak at the gathering when the explosion occurred. He was treated for his injuries at the city’s Jinnah Hospital, a multispecialty hospital.
The Lahore police had claimed that the incident happened during gas refilling at the shop, claiming instant death of a person refilling the gas. The deceased was identified as 22-year-old Hafiz Mehmood.
According to the Firstpost report, local journalists in the city were instructed by police not to pursue the bombing story beyond the police version of events.
The news of bombing came hours after Hafiz Saeed was produced at court over a terrorism-related case. But Saeed could not be indicted by Lahore’s anti-terrorism court for terror financing charges as authorities strangely failed to produce one of the co-accused at the high-profile hearing.
Lashkar leaders in Pakistan, one source said, have been divided on attributing the attack to hostile intelligence services, like India’s Research and Analysis Wing, or to divisions within the organisation. Talha Saeed’s designation as his father’s successor and his control of Lashkar finances have angered senior leaders in the terrorist organisation, the source said.
“The fact that the Lashkar’s usually very tight security was breached suggests all is not well in the organisation,” said London-based scholar Ayesha Siddiqa, an expert on jihadist groups in the organisation. “It’s obviously impossible to say who the perpetrator of the attack maybe, but it’s clear all is not well within its hierarchy.”
Some of the Lashkar leaders in Pakistan, according to the report, have attributed the attack to hostile intelligence services, like India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), and to divisions within the terror organisation.
The senior leaders in the LeT are allegedly no happy with Talha Saeed’s control of Lashkar finances.
“The fact that the Lashkar’s usually very tight security was breached suggests all is not well in the organization. It’s obviously impossible to say who the perpetrator of the attack maybe, but it’s clear all is not well within its hierarchy,” London-based scholar Ayesha Siddiqa, an expert on jihadist groups in the organization, was quoted as saying by Firstpost.
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Source: News18