Terror outfit mourns death of Zakir Musa's successor, killed by Forces

Terror outfit Ansar Ghazwatul Hind (AGH), six days after the death of chief Hamid Lelhari released a statement mourning his death at the hands of Indian security forces in an encounter in Kashmir's Awantipora on October 23. In the statement, the terror organisation, affiliated to Al Qaeda in India announced the appointment of Ghazi Khalid Ibrahim as a new interim commander and Abu Bakr Shopiani and Umar Mansour as deputy. Hamid Lelhari was a successor of Zakir Musa, who was killed by Indian forces on May 23, 2019. 

Jammu-Kashmir DGP Dilbag Singh in a press brief also stated that the AGH terror organisation has been wiped out of the Kashmir valley. He further stated that the terrorists of AGH were in coordination with Masood Azhar led Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-eTaiba headed by Hafiz Saeed from Pakistan. 

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He said, "When Zakir Musa was killed, Hamid Lelhari became his successor to head Ansar Ghazwat-ul Hind group (AGH) and further motivated more people to join the group. The three terrorists killed are residents of Pulwama belt and were working in co-ordination with Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), because JeM is slowly joining Lashkar, Hizbul (Mujahideen). It is their aim to create unrest in the region."

Hamid Lelhari's killing is counted as a significant gain for the security forces, considering the fact that Zakir Musa's successor had revived the group and was responsible for causing terror in Awantipora and Pulwama districts of South Kashmir.  "Hamid Lelhari had been active and involved in various terrorist activities since 2016. He had participated in many attacks on the Forces. He was also responsible for the attacks on Police and civilians. Recently, he was also involved in threatening and terrorising the locals. He was active in Awantipora and Pulwama regions along with his group, he took a lot of people in militancy. Junaid Rashid, who was killed, his brother was a militant too. In his house, Junaid was the second militant who was killed," Jammu-Kashmir DGP Dilbag Singh added. 

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Zakir Musa 

Zakir Musa, who succeeded Burhan Wani to take charge of the terror group was killed in an encounter with security forces in Tral in Pulwama in May 2019. In the joint operation by CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir Police, weapons were recovered from the terrorist. After trapping Zakir Musa, security officials made efforts to make them surrender however, the request fell on deaf ears and the holed up terrorists started launching grenades through a launcher. However, his death was soon confirmed, after the news first started floating on social media. 

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