Thousands of people on Friday marched towards Arwani in Bijbehara to participate in the funeral prayers of slain Lashkar commander Azad Malik alias Dada.

Witnesses said that people from many adjoining villages in Anantnag, Kulgam, Shopian, and Pulwama reached the ancestral village of Malik and offered funeral prayers.

As this report was being filed, eight rounds of funeral prayers were already held for the slain commander.

“The rush of the people is so huge that we still expect some rounds of funeral prayers for Malik,” a witness said

Meanwhile, sources said that a group of militants appeared at the funeral of Malik and offered him a gun salute.

Malik along with other five militants was killed in a gunfight with government forces in Bijbehara neighborhood in the wee hours today.