Early Times Report
Jammu, Feb 1: In a significant and mysterious development, a serving Pakistani Army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Imran Dayal, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, triggering speculation within Pakistan’s security establishment and drawing attention in India.
According to Pakistani media reports, Lt Col Dayal was attacked at close range by unknown assailants who fled the scene immediately after the shooting. Despite the presence of multiple security checkpoints in the area, the attackers remain untraced, and police officials have claimed to have no concrete leads so far.
Sources cited in Indian security circles have identified Lt Col Imran Dayal as a key handler involved in cross-border terror operations and have linked him to the 2025 Pahalgam terror attack. These claims, though not officially acknowledged by Pakistan, have further intensified scrutiny around the killing.
Reports also suggest that Dayal maintained close links with top Lashkar-e-Taiba leadership and was considered a trusted associate of terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed, who is designated as a global terrorist. His alleged role was said to include coordination between terror groups and Pakistan’s security establishment for operations targeti A serving Pak Army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Imran Dayal, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen.
Despite the presence of multiple security checkpoints in the area, the attackers remain untraced, and police officials have claimed to have no concrete leads so far.
Dayal maintained close links with top Lashkar-e-Taiba leadership and was considered a trusted associate of terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
His alleged role was said to include coordination between terror groups and Pakistan’s security establishment for operations targeting India.
Interestingly, even Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is reportedly “in the dark” about the identity and motive of the attackers, underscoring growing unease within the country’s security apparatus. Local police have publicly admitted that they are yet to establish the assailants’ identities or the exact circumstances leading to the killing.
The assassination of Lt Col Dayal comes amid a spate of targeted killings of high-profile terrorists and terror facilitators in Pakistan in recent years, many of whom were on India’s list of most-wanted operatives. Several such individuals have been eliminated by unknown gunmen in cities such as Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi, often in strikes that remain officially unattributed.
Security analysts say the pattern of these killings points to deepening fissures within Pakistan’s internal security landscape, with growing signs of infighting, retribution and possible covert operations targeting terror assets once considered untouchable.
While Pakistani authorities have maintained silence on the broader implications of the killing, the incident has once again highlighted Pakistan’s persistent struggle with militancy, blowback from terror networks, and the increasing vulnerability of even high-ranking security officials. | 