Militants planning Pulwama-like attack on Burhan’s death anniversary: Reports

SRINAGAR, JULY 06 : Militants are planning an attack on security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on the third death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.Burhan Wani was killed by security forces in Kokernag area of Anantnag district on July 8, 2016.

According to reports, a new group of Pakistan militants, comprising six to eight people, recently reached Pulwama. The militant group has a sniper in its ranks to target the security forces.

Reports suggest that there are chances that IED and snipers could be used for the same. It is important to know that IED explosive was used in large amount to blow away the CRPF convoy in Pulwama, which claimed the lives of 44 soldiers.

A high speeding car with around 100 kgs of IED was used to blow the CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama on February 14, 2019.

As per sources, Pakistani militants are likely to target the security forces at the national highway with the use of snipers.

Earlier in May, the security forces got major success after a special team gunned down Zakir Musa, the chief of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, a group allegedly affiliated with Al-Qaeda in a village in Tral of South Kashmir on May 25. One AK-47 rifle and a rocket launcher was recovered from the site of encounter.

Zakir Musa was an Ansar Ghazwat-ul Hind chief and a A++ militant. Zakir Musa, a close associate of Burhan Wani who was killed in 2017, was a militant of Hizbul Mujahideen who succeeded Burhan and later headed the Al Qaeda affiliate. He had taken to militancy in 2013. In 2012 he left for Chandigarh to study engineering at Ram Dev Jindal college but left it midway to join militancy.Later in June, al-Qaeda announced a new chief for its India-specific wing Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH). Hameed Lelhari alias Haroon Abbas has replaced Musa and Ghazi Ibrahim Khalid will be his deputy, Abu Ubaidah Hafizahullah, a spokesman of the group said in an unverified 11-minute video.