Al-Qaeda offshoot in Valley continues to suffer heavy losses

Srinagar, June 24: The Ansar Ghazwatul Hind, an offshoot of the Al-Qaeda in Jammu and Kashmir suffered further losses when four of its terrorists were gunned down in an encounter at Shopian.

The AGH has been facing a series of losses ever since its leader, Zakir Musa was killed in an encounter with the security forces on May 23. Sources say that the strength of the AGH has been constantly depleting over the past couple of months.

The security forces had launched a cordon and search operation at Daramdora after information regarding the presence of terrorists was received.

As the operation was being carried out, the terrorists opened fire on the forces. The same was retaliated, which led to the killing of Rafi Hassan, Suhail Bhat, Showkat Ahmad Mir and Azad Ahmad Khanday. Showkat had joined the terrorist ranks in 2015, while the rest had been recruited into the AGH only recently.

Showkat was initially part of the Hizbul Mujahideen, but joined the AGH later on. Musa, who too was part of the Hizbul Mujahideen had broken away from the terrorist group and formed the AGH.