Sri Lankan team attack mastermind killed in Afghanistan

PESHAWAR (92 News) – Qari Ajmal, the mastermind of the attack on Sri Lankan team in Lahore in 2009 has been killed in Afghan National Army’s operation in Surobi district of Paktika province on Sunday. Afghan National Army and NATO forces conducted a joint operation early morning in Surobi district of Paktika, killing the mastermind Qari Ajmal on the spot while his three accomplices were detained. Qari Ajmal was a resident of South Punjab and was member of banned organization but later he joined Taliban. He fled to Afghanistan after Pakistan Army launches Operation Zarb-e-Azb. The Sri Lankan cricket team was travelling by bus when at least 10 gunmen fired at them in March 2009 with rifles, grenades and rockets, wounding six players and a British coach and killing eight Pakistanis. International cricket tours to Pakistan were subsequently cancelled and the country was forced to play all its "home" games in the United Arab Emirates. Pakistan is fighting a militant groups who have staged scores of attacks against the state, civilians and religious minorities over the last decade, although Lahore remains relatively safer than other parts of the country. Pakistan army has carried out large military operations along the volatile border with Afghanistan to flush out militants.