Militant with links to Al Qaeda affiliate killed in gunfight

india

Updated: Jun 27, 2019 00:46 IST

Security forces killed a militant suspected to belong to an Al Qaeda affiliate in a gunfight in Pulwama district’s Tral on Wednesday, the Jammu and Kashmir police said.

In a statement, the police identified the slain militant as Shabir Ahmad Malik, who was a member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) before joining Ansar Ghazwat ul Hind (AGH), the Al Qaeda affiliate.

“Malik was part of groups responsible for planning and executing terror attacks…,” the statement said without elaborating.

It added that a case had been registered against Malik for “planning and making preparations for carrying out terror attacks in Jammu”.

Malik is the fifth AGH militant to have been killed since Sunday. Four AGH militants, including the group’s main recruiter, Showkat Mir, were killed in a firefight with security forces at Panzar in South Kashmir’s Shopian district on Sunday.

Zakir Musa, 25, who formed the AGH after quitting home-grown militant group Hizbul Mujahideen in 2017, was killed on May 23 in a gun battle with security forces.

Almost half of AGH’s around a dozen militants were killed in December 2018 in Pulwama district.

The group was believed to have been almost completely wiped out after Musa’s killing.