Mistry Zahoor Ibrahim, Hijacker Of Indian Airlines Flight IC-814, Killed In Karachi: Report

Officials in India, however, said that the businessman slain was Ibrahim, who had been operating under the guise of Zahid Akhund for many years.

New Delhi: Unidentified gunmen shot dead a "businessman" in Karachi whom Indian intelligence officials recognised as Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Mistry Zahoor Ibrahim, one of the five hijackers of the IC-814 Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to Delhi in 1999, PTI reported.

Mistry Zahoor Ibrahim was also behind the fatal stabbing of passenger Rupin Katyal in the flight.

According to 'Chippa,' a digital news agency based in Karachi, "one person died in firing near a shop at Akthar Colony Sector A, Gali (lane) number four. The body was transferred to Jinnah hospital".

The deceased was identified as Zahid, 44. The report quoted Senior Superintendent of Police (Karachi East) as claiming that it was a case of personal rivalry.

The SSP had further said that four people had entered the shop where the "businessman" was fired at four to five times, PTI reported.

Officials in India, however, said that the slain businessman was Ibrahim, who had been operating under the guise of Zahid Akhund for many years, PTI reported.

Ibrahim, who was code-named "doctor" during the 1999 hijacking, was the proprietor of Crescent Furniture in Karachi's Akhtar Colony.

According to reports, Rauf Asgar, the brother of Masood Azhar, the founder of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror organisation, attended the businessman's funeral procession in Karachi. Rauf is the terror group's current operations chief.

Indian Airlines IC-814 Hijacking

On December 24, 1999, the ill-fated Indian Airlines IC-814 aircraft was hijacked from Nepal, carrying 176 passengers, five hijackers, and 15 crew members.

After brief stops in Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai, the jet landed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, which was under Taliban control at the time.

Ibrahim was formerly a Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) terrorist and one of the five hijackers of IC 814.

The hijacking squad also included Masood Azhar's brothers, Rauf Asghar and Ibrahim Azhar, who are now living in Pakistan and have an Interpol Red Corner alert outstanding against them.

One passenger, Rupin Katyal, 25, was killed by the hijackers while returning from Kathmandu with his wife.

The hijacking came to a conclusion on December 31, 1999, when the passengers were traded for the release of Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar from Indian prisons. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, who was the Intelligence Bureau's Special Director at the time, oversaw the entire passenger exchange.

(With PTI Inputs)