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The Andhra Pradesh police on Sunday shot dead the Lashkar-e-Tayiba's southern zone chief in an encounter in Karimnagar district.
Director-General of Police Pervaram Ramulu said that the slain terrorist was identified as Aziz alias Khalil alias Imran (26).
Aziz was one of the two accused in Thursday's bomb blast case near Sai Baba temple on the outskirts of Hyderabad, in which one woman was killed and 20 sustained injuries.
The DGP said the police was conducting frisking operations in Rekurthi village on the outskirts of Karimnagar town around 0400 IST when the terrorist, who was on a cycle, tried to escape. The police party chased and gunned him down.
The police recovered a pistol, a spare magazine and an Indian passport.
The other accused, Mohammed Azam, was killed in an encounter with police in Rangareddy district late on Friday night.
The DGP said Aziz was in charge of LeT operations in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
He was a resident of Malakpet area of the city and had gone to Saudi Arabia in January 2001. Thereafter, in September 2001, he went to Pakistan and was received by one Abu Hamza of the LeT. From there he went to Muzaffarabad in PoK and received training along with 3,000 others at a terrorist camp.
Aziz slipped into India through the Poonch sector in Jammu and Kashmir along with nine others. While the other eight stayed back, he came to Delhi and thereafter to Hyderabad. He frequented Chennai and other places in southern India and wanted to foment communal conflicts.
Ramulu said that Aziz and Azam had planted six pipe bombs near the Sai Baba temple. Only one of the bombs exploded. "Had all the bombs exploded, it would have resulted in the death of over 100 people and the temple would have been devastated," the DGP said.
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