Days after al-Qaeda Kashmir chief Zakir Musa was killed by the security forces in Jammu & Kashmir, one Malik Saddamun Nafar is said to have taken over the outfit.
Nafar’s photograph is now being circulated in the Valley. Musa was the last terrorist in the list of 11 men photographed in the Burhan Wani Brigade. The al-Qaeda’s Kashmir unit has been successful in getting a replacement of Musa soon after his killing, sources in the security agencies said, adding more information is being collected on the antecedents of the new head of the terror outfit.
The Jaish-e-Mohammad on the other hand is unable to find leadership in the Valley after the Indian Air Force hit the terror group’s training-cum-suicide bomber factory at Balakot in Pakistan. The youths in the Valley are particularly avoiding any association with the Jaish that has been hit hard due to the airstrikes against it by India.
The al-Qaeda has formed two units for its nefarious agenda in India — one titled al-Qaeda Kashmir and the other labeled as al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent headed by Sambhal resident Sana-ul Haq, alias Maulana Asim Umar.
While the AQIS has India minus Jammu & Kashmir, Mynamar and Bangladesh under its ambit for the terror agenda, the al-Qaeda Kashmir’s so called area of operation is the Valley where the terror outfit could also be eyeing on the illicit cultivation of opium in certain areas of South Kashmir. Al-Qaeda Kashmir unit was also known as Ansar Ghazwatul Hind.
Following continuing reverses at the hands of the security forces during the last three years, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence that mentors the terror affiliates like JeM, Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and Hizbul Mujahideen has been seeking to shift its bases to Jammu region.
Even on Wednesday, two spies working at the behest of ISI were arrested from Jammu. The duo was arrested for shooting videos and taking photographs outside an Army camp in Jammu. The two were allegedly in direct contact with Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militants in based in Pakistan.
The duo was identified as 38-year-old Mushtaq Ahmed Malik, son of Atta Mohd Malik of Udhyanpur area of Doda district, and 24-year-old Nadeem Akhter, son of Mohd Shafi of Malhar area of Kathua district.
Earlier, Chinese-make grenades were recovered in Jammu and the terror groups have executed some murders of RSS and BJP leaders in the region in order to get traction among the gullible youths, sources added.