Al-Qaeda offshoot AGH wiped out from Kashmir: J&K DGP

SRINAGAR: Threat from Ansar-Gazwat-ul Hind, a Kashmir-based terror outfit affiliated to Al Qaeda, has come to an end for now following the killing of three terrorists, including its top commander Hamid Lelhari, J&K police said on Wednesday.

J&K police chief Dilbag Singh said the three terrorists killed in a gunfight with security forces in Rajpora area of Pulwama district in south Kashmir on Tuesday night were Lelhari and his associates Junaid Rashid and Naveed.

“AGH group has been wiped out for now,” Singh told reporters in Srinagar. “But then they have overground workers network from whom some people emerge to become terrorists.” Police officials said Ansar-Gazwat-ul Hind was nowadays being provided the support by Pakistan’s Jaish-e-Mohammed, and two to three terrorists of the group are still active.


According to police, Lelhari joined terrorist ranks in 2016 and was among the few commanders who survived Operation All Out of armed forces started after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani and his two associates in July 2016.

The J&K police chief said the next target of the armed forces is Yasir, a Pakistani terrorist who was an associate of Lelhari. He said terrorist organisations in Kashmir work in coordination with each other, and that Pakistan-based JeM and LeT are in touch with every other group operating here.