With the elimination of Zakir Musa’s successor Hameed Lelhari, Al-Qaeda unit Ansar Ghazwat-ul Hind has been wiped out from Jammu and Kashmir as of now, the state's Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh said on Wednesday.
Three terrorists were killed during an encounter in Tral, a town in the Indian administered state’s Pulwama district. The three were identified as Hammed, Naveed, and Junaid and were local residents of the same area.
Ansar Ghazwat-ul Hind, a militant organisation and Al-Qaeda cell in Jammu and Kashmir, was finished with Zakir Mussa’s elimination, but Hameed Lelhari revived the group and motivated people to join it.
Zakir Musa, who was eliminated in May this year, is said to be the successor of terrorist Hizbul commander Burhan Wani, who was killed in 2016. Months-long unrest was triggered by the killing of Wani in 2016.
The DGP said that Lelhari and other group members were coordinating with the proscribed militant organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed, which is currently operating alongside Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen to leg-up violence in Kashmir.
Last week, at least three militants were killed in the state’s Anantnag district during a gunfight with security forces. It was the first such incident in the Kashmir Valley since the restoration of mobile network service after months of suspension.
The state was placed under curfew on 4 August as precautionary measures to ensure law and order in the wake of the Indian parliament revoking the decades-old special status of Jammu and Kashmir on 5 August.
