Hizbul blames Zakir Musa for militant killings

Rift in militant ranks becoming apparent in Kashmir

A rift between Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant outfits and Zakir Musa, head of the Al Qaeda cell in Kashmir - Ansar Ghazwatul Hind, is out in the open with the former blaming the later for providing information to security forces about the movement of ultras.

A video in which five masked men claiming to be Hizbul militants accuses Musa of being behind the killing of militants in the Valley. In the video, which has gone viral on social media, the Hizbul terms Musa as a ‘traitor’.

“We on behalf of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen want to convey this special message to people that from last three months a huge number of militants have been martyred. We have not seen so many Muhajids being killed earlier. There is none other than Zakir Musa behind these killings,” a masked gunman can be heard saying in the video.

After the killing of LeT operational chief, Abu Ismail, and his associate, Abu Qasim on Thursday on the outskirts of Srinagar the terror outfit's Kashmir chief, Mehmood Shah, issued a stern warning to the "informers" who act as sources for the police that leads to the death of militants. Referring to the informers, the LeT chief in a statement to local news gathering agencies said that they have no "idea that how many precious lives are getting lost like this."

Ismail had replaced Abu Dujana as operational chief of LeT in Kashmir after Dujana sided himself with Musa. Dujana was killed in an encounter with security forces on August 1 in Pulwama.

Musa, an engineering college dropout had in May threatened Kashmiri separatist leaders to "chop off and hang their heads" in city centre Lal Chowk "for interfering in his struggle for the establishment of the Shariah (Islamic rule) in Kashmir."

The Hizbul leadership in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir distanced itself from Musa's threat. Following the snub, he quit Hizbul in July and was announced as the head of a newly created al-Qaida cell, “Ansar Ghazwat-Ul-Hind" by "Global Islamic Media Front,” an al-Qaida-affiliated information network.

Rumors were circulating in the Valley right from the day when Musa quit Hizbul, that he was providing information to security forces about the movement of militants belonging to other organisations. In August, Hizbul's senior commander, Riyaz Naikoo, while appearing at the funeral of one of the militants in south Kashmir area of Tahab in Pulwama had said that "efforts were being made to defame the Kashmir freedom struggle". He had asked people not to support those "who oppose Pakistani flag."

Musa, who announced his allegiance to a pan-Islamic Caliphate, accused Pakistan of betraying "Mujahideen (those who serve in the name of Allah) and declaring them as terrorists." In a video message, he said that Pakistan betrayed the militants and even got many of them killed while shutting down the training camps after the US attacked Afghanistan in 2001.

While security agencies are tight-lipped over the issue, a senior police officer wishing anonymity said the new development could set off a fratricidal war among Kashmiri militants. "In early 1990's when militancy was at its peak so many ultras were killed in group rivalries and same can't be ruled out now," he revealed.