NEW DELHI, Sept. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Mumbai police shot dead Nasir, a suspected operative of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and mastermind of the Aug. 25 twin blasts, in an encounter in the suburb of Mumbai Friday night, local TV reported Saturday.

　　Nasir had formed and operated a module of four others to set off serial blasts in the metropolis.

　　Police said that Nasir and an accomplice were shot near Ruparel College around 10:15 p.m. by a squad of Crime Branch sleuths shadowing their car, a Delhi registered Maruti 800.

　　Police said the duo opened fire when challenged and were gunned down in a shootout with the sleuths.

　　Nasir and his unidentified accomplice were taken to a nearby hospital where they were declared dead.

　　Police said that the car was laden with a huge quantity of explosives and detonators, besides a cache of arms and ammunition.

　　The types of explosives were yet to be determined as the police were waiting for the arrival of the bomb disposal squad.

　　Police had been on the trail of Nasir for the past several days.

　　Nasir had started the Gujarat Muslim Revenge Force after the religious conflict in Gujarat last year and recruited Syed Mohammed Hanif, 42, his wife Fahmida, 36, and daughter Farheen, 18.who planted a powerful bomb in a taxi in which they had traveled from a suburb to the Gateway of India.

　　Another recruit, Ashrat Ansari, had planted a bomb in a taxi atJhaveri Bazar.

　　The twin blasts left 53 dead and more than 150 injured. Enditem