Al Qaeda’s Indian cell chief Zakir Musa killed in J&K

Srinagar: Zakir Musa who headed the Al Qaeda’s India cell ‘Ansar Ghuzwat-Ul-Hind’ was along with another militant killed during a gunfight with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Pulwama district on Thursday evening.

The authorities said that Zakir Rashid Bhat, his real name, figured on the top of the most wanted militants by the security forces combating a three-decade old insurgency in the State. He was a close associate of Burhan Wani, the popular Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander, whose killing in July 2016 had sparked off widespread unrest in Kashmir.

Musa, however, revolted against Hizb, Kashmir’s frontline indigenous outfit, in 2017 and was subsequently appointed by Al-Qaida as the head of its newly created cell in India named ‘Ansar Ghuzwat-Ul-Hind’. Several parts of Kashmir Valley erupted after the word about Musa’s killing spread. Irate crowds, mainly of youth, took to the streets at many places to chant pro-freedom slogans.

The authorities immediately suspended mobile Internet services across the Valley and ordered closure of all schools and colleges on Friday.

The official sources said that curfew will be imposed in major towns of the Valley including summer capital Srinagar from Friday morning to prevent breach of peace.