Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH) has named Hameed Lelhari as its new chief and Zakir Musa’s successor in Kashmir, a media report said on Friay.
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,” TOI 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.
It said that he has received schooling at Evergreen Public School Lelhar.
“He did his eighth class from Government Middle School Kakpora. Lelhari dropped out of school, police sources said due to some domestic problems following which he worked as a labourer, a cook and a mason,” the report said.
Zakir Musa was killed in a gunfight with the security forces in Tral area of Pulwama district on May 23 this year.