Terrorist Sanaullah Ghafari, involved in attacks on Pakistan, killed in Kunar

KABUL: Shahab al-Muhajir, Daesh Khorasan leader and one of the most-wanted terrorists in the world, was executed in the Kunar province of Afghanistan Also known as Sanaullah Ghafari, the terrorist belonged to Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul. He was not only on the most-wanted list in Pakistan due to his terrorism, but also internationally. Ghafari was wanted for leading and being involved in several terror attacks in countries including Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. He led the Daesh Khurasan group since April 2020 during which he remained the mastermind and head of operations in all the terror-related activities. He had been nominated as the mastermind and operation leader in several attacks in Pakistan and other countries in the world.

The terrorist was involved in the attack on Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul and the one that blew up an imam bargah in Peshawar’s Qisa Khawani Bazar. He was also a part of the jailbreak in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province as well as the rocket attacks in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Ghafari, who was born in 1994 in Kaul, was declared a global terrorist by the United Nations, the United States of America and the European Union in December 2021, which also set head money worth $10 million for information related to him. The US State Department stated he was “responsible for approving all ISIS-K operations throughout Afghanistan and arranging funding to conduct operations.”

In Iran, Ghafari’s involvement was found in the Shah Cheragh attack and one on a mosque in Afghanistan’s Mazar-i-Sharif. The terrorist and his family had migrated to Afghanistan from India, while he received his religious education from the Ghafari Madrasa in Kabul. According to the US State Department’s national security rewards programme, Rewards for Justice, a reward of up to $10 million was placed for information on Ghafari. “In June 2020, ISIS core leadership appointed al-Muhajir, also known as Sanaullah Ghafari, to be the leader of ISIS-K, a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation. An ISIS communiqué announcing his appointment described al-Muhajir as an experienced military leader and one of ISIS-K’s “urban lions” in Kabul who has been involved in guerrilla operations and the planning of suicide and complex attacks,” a statement on the programme’s website read.