Tral, May 24: Amid clashes, a spontaneous shutdown was observed across Kashmir Valley to mourn the killing of popular militant commander Zakir Musa who was heading Ansar Ghazwatul Hind.
Amid clampdown from authorities, clashes erupted at different places of Valley including Habakadal, Reka Chowk Batamaloo, Humhama, Soura and Rainawari etc.
Zakir Musa was trapped and subsequently killed in Dadsar Tral area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district. The house owner Mudasir Ahmed Gahnoo, a resident of Dadsar Tral was arrested by police for questioning.
If police sources are to be believed, the videos that Zakir Musa, and slain popular commander Burhan Wani used to shot and subsequently made them viral on social media were given the final shape in the same house, however a police official said that the matter is under investigation. He said that the house owner was once picked up for questioning but he didn’t utter a word.
Reports said that Zakir Musa died early Friday morning after engaging Forces whole night. The search operation was launched at around 4:30 on Thursday evening.
The contact with Zakir Musa was established at around 7 pm while the exchange of fire continued till 1 am after which government forces set the house on fire. The house in which Zakir Musa was trapped was completely gutted while two other houses suffered partial damage. They belonged to Reyaz Ahmed Rather and Sanaullah Rather.
Locals said that people at Noorpora Tral, the native village of Zakir Musa attacked and damaged a vehicle from Fire and Emergency Services that was on way to Dadsara to put out fire. The clashes sparked in the dead of the night at Chandrigam, Batagund, Dadsara and other areas.
Locals added that when Forces were busy in clearing debris, Zakir Musa emerged and resorted to firing. The exchange of fire continued for 15 minutes and at around 6:30 his body was retrieved from the debris of the house.
As reported earlier, authorities closed all educational institutions and suspended internet service. Defying restrictions and curfew, thousands of people thronged at the residence of Zakir Musa at Noorpora to mourn his death.
Reports said that people from different parts of Kashmir visited the house of Zakir Musa. An eyewitness told news agency CNS that more than one lakh people assembled in Noorpora while a chopper was pressed into service to monitor the happenings.
Locals added that over 17 back to back funeral prayers were offered for the militant commander. A large number of mourners alleged that Forces personnel including local police arrested several youth near Sangam Bridge.
A police official while divulging information about the encounter and Zakir Musa said that on a credible input, a cordon & search operation was launched by police and security forces at Batpora in Dadsara area of Awantipora.
He said that during the search operation, the hiding militant fired on the search party. The fire was retaliated leading to an encounter.
In the ensuing encounter, a militant was killed and the body was retrieved from the site of encounter. The killed militant was identified as Zakir Rashid Bhat alias Musa of Noorpora Tral.
According to the police records, Zakir had a long history of militant record since 2013. He was initially associated with Hizbul Mujhadeen and then he floated new militant outfit Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH). He was wanted by law for his complicity in a series of militant incidents including attack on security establishments.
As per police records Zakir was involved in planning & executing series of militant attacks in the area. Several cases were registered against him. He was involved in case FIR No 126/2014 pertaining to the grenade attack on CISF at Noorpora Check, Case FIR No 135/2014 pertaining to abduction and killing of a civilian Firdous Ahmad Hurrah of Dusoo Pulwama, Case FIR No. 24/2015 pertaining to inciting youth for militant activities, Case FIR No. 39/2016 pertaining to killing of a civilian lady Hameed Bano of Noorpora, Case FIR No. 190/2016 pertaining to snatching of weapons from security forces, Case FIR No. 165/2016 pertaining to arson act on Government Higher Secondary School Dadsara, Case FIR No. 170/2016 pertaining to anti-National activities, Case FIR No. 80/2017 pertaining to other militant activities, Case FIR No. 139/2017 pertaining to bank dacoity at J&K Bank Noorpora, Case FIR No. 50/2018 pertaining to raising of funds for militant activities. Besides several other militant cases were registered against him pertaining to militant attacks.
Further, according to police he was declared as pro-claimed offender by NIA special court Mohali Punjab on 2nd May, 2019 in NIA case RC-39/2018/NIA/DLI. The said case pertains to his involvement in serial blasts at Jalandhar Punjab on 14th September, 2018 for which case FIR No. 163/2018 was registered at Police Station Maqsudan Jalandhar. The investigation of the said case was later taken by National Investigating Agency. (CNS)
