Zakir Musa's successor among three terrorists killed in Awantipora encounter

The commander of Al Qaeda linked Ansar Ghazwat-ul Hind, Zakir Musa's successor, identified as Abdul Hameed Lelhari was one of the three terrorists neutralised by security forces in Awantipora encounter on Tuesday.

Lelhari was named as the new commander of Ghazwat-ul-Hind in June this year after Zakir Musa was gunned down by security forces.

"Three killed terrorists identified as Naveed Tak, Hamid Lone alias Hamid Lelhari and Junaid Bhat involved in several terror crimes. Arms & ammunition recovered. Case registered," Jammu and Kashmir police said.

Earlier police has said that in the operation carried on Tuesday afternoon in Awantipora, three Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists were neutralised. Two of them are suspected to be Pakistani terrorists involved in the killing of two Gujjar brothers on August 29 on the mountainous region of Tral Pulwama.

Zakir Musa, the commander of Al Qaeda linked Ansar Ghazwat-ul Hind was killed in an encounter with security forces in May, earlier this year.