Hameed Lelhari named new chief of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind: Report

Two weeks after Zakir Musa was killed in a gunfight with the armed forces, the outfit Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH) has named Hameed Lelhari as its new chief.

According to a report by the Times of India, Hameed Lelhari, 30, is a native of Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama. In a video released on Eid, the al-Qaeda affiliate said Hameed Lelhari has replaced Zakir Musa as its local commander and Ghazi Ibrahim Khalid appointed as his deputy.

Jammu and Kashmir police has also confirmed the veracity of the claim in the video.

“Lelhari has taken over AGH but he is hardly a top terrorist,” an officer told the TOI. But police in Kashmir was clueless about his deputy’s identity and background.

In the 11-minute video, an embedded audio, presumably recorded just hours before Musa’s death, the former AGH chief is heard persuading a Hizbul Mujahideen militant to join his group.