In a significant victory for the security forces, Zakir Musa’s successor and chief of Kashmir’s al-Qaeda unit, Abdul Hameed Lelhari, was gunned down on Tuesday evening by the security forces in an encounter at Jammu and Kashmir’s Awantipora.
J&K: Zakir Musa’s Successor Hamid Lelhari Among 3 Killed
Jammu and Kashmir police said, “Three killed terrorists, identified as Naveed Tak, Hamid Lone alias Hamid Lelhari and Junaid Bhat, were involved in several terror crimes. Arms & ammunition was recovered. A case has been registered.”
J&K DGP Dilbag Singh said, ” In Tral, 3 local militants associated Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind were killed yesterday. Before that, in an operation in Anantnag, 3 militants were neutralised. All the killed terrorists as per police records were part of the Zakir Musa group and were wanted by police for their complicity in a series of terror crimes, including attacks on security establishments and civilian atrocities.”
The encounter began in the outskirts of Awantipore as the security forces launched a cordon and search operation following inputs about the presence of terrorists in the area.
Abdul Lelhari was named as the new commander of Ghazwat-ul-Hind in June this year after Zakir Musa was gunned down by security forces.
Meanwhile, three other terrorists were killed in South Kashmir’s Pulwama region in a separate encounter
According to DGP Dilbagh Singh, the terrorists belonged to Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed. Two of them are suspected to be Pakistani terrorists involved in the killing of two Gujjar brothers on August 29 in Tral. The killing of two Gujjar brothers was one of the first casualties after the Centre’s decision to revoke Article 370 while the third terrorist has been identified as a local militant.
