• Terrorist Zahoor Mistry who hijacked Indian Airlines Flight Shot Dead in Pakistan

    International
    Terrorist Zahoor Mistry who hijacked Indian Airlines Flight Shot Dead in Pakistan

    As per reports, Mistry was living under a new identity, 'Zahid Akhund' and was running a furniture shop in the city.   


     

    Digital Desk: Zahoor Mistry, one of the five terrorists who hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC-814 in 1999, was shot dead in Pakistan, media reports said.

    Reportedly, Mistry was killed on March 1 in Karachi by two bike-riding assailants. The police suspect that the murder was preplanned.

    Geo TV, a Pakistani news station, confirmed the death and reported the murder of a "businessman" in Karachi without providing any further details.

    As per reports, Mistry was living under a new identity, 'Zahid Akhund' and was running a furniture shop in the city.

    Geo TV shared CCTV footage of the murder, which showed two armed motorcyclists cruising the streets of Akhtar Colony before entering a furniture warehouse after what appeared to be a survey of the area.

    As per police reports, four gun shells were retrieved from the scene.

    With this death, now only two Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) hijackers were alive in Pakistan, namely Ibrahim Azhar, Masood Azhar's elder brother and Rauf Asghar.

    Local media reports stated that top Jaish-e-Mohammad leaders, including Rauf Asgar, attended the funeral prayer for 'Akhund' in Karachi.

    Notably, Asgar is the brother of Jaish chief Masood Azhar and the JeM's operational chief.

    On December 24, 1999, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, a Pakistan-based terror organization, hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC-814 en route from Kathmandu to New Delhi.

    Terrorists hijacked the jet as it approached Lucknow and afterwards, it was taken to Amritsar for refueling. The plane was subsequently flown to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where the passengers and crew were held captive for more than eight days.

    During the hijacked, Mistry brutally murdered one Indian passenger, Rupin Katyal (25); on December 25, 1999, later the body was recovered from the hijacked plane in the United Arab Emirates. On that fatal day, he and his wife were returning to Delhi from their honeymoon in Kathmandu.

    The hijacking ended when former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee led BJP government was compelled to release three terrorists Masood Azhar Alvi, Syed Omar Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar to spare the lives of the 176 passengers and 15 crew members on board.