3 min readApr 17, 2026 01:55 PM IST
First published on: Apr 17, 2026 at 01:18 PM IST
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) co-founder Amir Hamza was shot at by unidentified assailants in Pakistan’s Lahore on Thursday (April 16), leaving him critically injured, according to sources. The attack marks the second attempt on the 67-year-old terror ideologue within a year.
Hamza was reportedly attacked outside a news channel’s office in Lahore when two motorcycle-borne gunmen opened fire near a Pindi stop. He was returning home from the TV station and was accompanied by Pakistani judge Nazir Ahmad Ghazi at the time of the incident. Hamza was rushed to a hospital and remains in critical condition.
A Lahore Police official said unidentified individuals fired at the vehicle of the chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurmat-e-Rasool Pakistan near Hamdard Chowk. Police have launched a search to identify and arrest the attackers, and security in the area has been tightened.
Who is Amir Hamza?
Also known as Maulana Amir Hamza, the Gujranwala-born cleric is considered one of the founding members of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba along with Hafiz Saeed. Hamza is regarded as a senior ideologue of the organisation and has been associated with several propaganda and outreach activities of the group.
A veteran of the Afghan mujahideen, Hamza has served as editor of LeT’s official publication and authored several books. He was designated a global terrorist by the United States in August 2012 while serving on the group’s central advisory committee.
According to the US Department of the Treasury, Hamza led a Lashkar-associated charity and was linked to an LeT university trust headed by Hafiz Saeed. He was also involved in negotiating the release of detained Lashkar members and headed the outfit’s “special campaigns” department.
Hamza has also been linked to the 2005 attack on the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru, carried out along with Lashkar operative Abu Saifullah. The attack left one professor dead and several others injured.
Second attack within a year
This is the second attempt on Hamza’s life in less than a year. In May 2025, unidentified gunmen shot him in the waist at his residence in Lahore. He was later taken to a military hospital under heavy security, reportedly provided by Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI.
Following that incident, Pakistani authorities had strengthened security around the LeT ideologue.
Pattern of killings in Pakistan
The attack comes amid a series of mysterious killings of militants linked to anti-India terror groups in Pakistan in recent years. Several operatives associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and other outfits have been shot dead by unidentified gunmen since 2022.
Among those killed were Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Shahid Latif, believed to be the mastermind of the 2016 Pathankot attack, who was gunned down in Sialkot in October 2023, and Khalistani militant Paramjit Singh Panjwar, who was shot dead in Lahore in May 2023.
More recently, Mohammad Tahir Anwar, the brother of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Pakistan. Several other militants linked to anti-India groups have also been killed in targeted shootings across the country.
Maulana Amir Hamza (centre), a Lashkar-e-Taiba commander, was shot by unidentified assailants outside a news channel office in Lahore, Pakistan, on April 16. (AP/File) 
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