AGH militant killed in Kashmir’s Tral

A militant affiliated with the Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH), an al-Qaeda affiliated group, was killed in an encounter with the security forces in volatile Tral area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Wednesday.

A police spokesperson said that based on credible inputs, a cordon-and-search-operation (CASO) was launched jointly by army’s 42-Rashtriya Rifles and J&K police at Branpatri forest area of Tral in Pulwama, 42 kms from here.

During the search operation, he said the hiding militants fired on the search party, which was retaliated, leading to an encounter.

“During the exchange of fire, a militant who was affiliated with Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind was killed. The body of the slain militant was recovered from the site and he has been identified as Shabir Malik, a local affilaited with AGH,” the spokesperson said, and added he was initially affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and later on was part of AGH.

On June 23, four militants affiliated with AGH were killed in an encounter with security forces in neighbouring Shopian district. Recently, the AGH had named Hameed Lelhari as the successor of Zakir Musa, who was killed by security forces on May 23.

In a video released on Eid by al-Hurr (official media wing of AGH), the al-Qaeda said Lelhari has replaced Musa as its local commander and Ghazi Ibrahim Khalid appointed as his deputy.

After the killing of Musa, state police chief Dilbag Singh had said it has ended the cult and concept of radical jihad in the state. “Zakir Musa created a new concept and cult of radical jihad and militancy in Kashmir. He was the last militant of such radical ideology. With his killing, security forces have eliminated the last such militant who was influenced by IS kind of terrorism in Kashmir,” Singh had said.

However, a senior police officer said that several militants in southern districts of Pulwama and Shopian were still being influenced by the radical AGH ideology to establish the Shariat or the Islamic law in the state.

Over 120 militants of various groups and nearly 70 security forces personnel have been killed in militant violence in the Valley this year. Over the past three years, Shopian along with neighbouring Pulwama district have emerged as the hub of a new age militancy in Kashmir.