Srinagar, Jun 07: Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH) has named one Hameed Lelhari as its new chief and Zakir Musa’s successor in Kashmir, a media report said on Friday.
Lelhari (30) is a resident of Pulwama district in south Kashmir.
Lelhari is believed to have served Musa as his deputy after he along with a group of around a dozen of militants split from Hizbul Mujahideen and swore allegiance to al-Qaida in July 2017.
“In a new video released on Wednesday by al-Hurr (official media wing of AGH), which was widely circulated on Whatsapp groups, Abu Ubaidah Hafizahullah, spokesperson of AGH said that Lelhari alias Haroon Abbas has replaced Musa while Ghazi Ibrahim Khalid appointed as his deputy,” reported ‘The Times of India’.
The report said that Jammu and Kashmir police officials confirmed the veracity of the claim in the video.
“Lelhari has taken over AGH but he is hardly a top militant,” the newspaper quoted an officer as having said.
The report said that Lelhari is son of Mohammad Ismail Lone and was born in 1990. He is a native of Lelhar Kakpora, Pulwama.
Zakir Musa was killed in a gunfight with the security forces in Tral area of Pulwama district on May 23 this year.
