Retired Pakistan Brigadier behind 2018 attacks in Jammu and Kashmir killed by unknown gunmen

Retired Pakistan army Brigadier and key ISI figure, Amir Hamza, was killed by unknown gunmen in Pakistan's Jhelum district in Punjab late on Monday.

Hamza was known for his involvement in ISIS-planned attacks against India. He was alleged as one of the masterminds behind the 2018 attack on Sunjwan Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir. As many as six jawans were killed and 12 others were injured in the attack.



Hamza’s car was ambushed by four men on motorcycles when he had reached the Lilla interchange in Jhelum. The shooters surrounded his car before the pillions fired successfully and fled the area.

Hamza’s wife and daughter, who were with him in a car, were also injured. The shooters did not take away any belongings, said Pakistan police as reported by TOI. The rescue services confirmed the injuries suffered by the wife and daughter.

Hamza’s brother, Ayub, is an eyewitness as he was behind the car on a motorcycle, reported the Pakistani media.

"We are investigating it as a 'blind murder case.' We have registered a case and probe into the targeted attack is underway,” said Pakistan police to local media.

Hamza held key supervisory posts after retirement. His last position was as director general of the Emergency Services Academy (1122).


The killing marks the elimination of the second Pakistani involved in the Sunjwan attack. LeT commander Khwaja Shahid alias Mia Muajhid was killed in November 2023. He was found beheaded near the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The police said that it was a targeted killing and that the retired army official had no personal enmity. The killing is the latest among the series of recent Pakistanis linked to ISI-engineered attacks in India. In April, Amir Sarfaraz, a key ISI henchman and heavily protected, was killed by unidentified gunmen in Lahore. Unidentified men had also gunned down Adnan Ahmed aka Abu Hanzala, a top ranking Lashkar-e-Taiba commander and plotter of a series of attacks on security convoys in Jammu and Kashmir over the years, in Karach in December 2023. In October last year, Jaish-e-Muhammed terrorist Shahid Latif, chief handler of the fidayeen squad that attacked the Pulwama air base in 2016 was killed in Sialkot.