Gun wielding youth’s image goes viral in J&K, terror link suspected

Srinagar, June 17: An image of a man from North Kashmir's Kupwara district holding a gun has gone viral. Security agencies fear that the man may have joined the terrorist ranks.

The image which shows Imtiyaz Ahmad Mir of Gulgam village is now being probed by the police. He has been missing since a week.

Mir, who is in his 20s ran a photocopy shop. He had shown no inclination of joining a terror group before he went missing on June 11. His family has now appealed to him to return home.

In the picture, he is seen wearing a military vest and is holding a gun. It says that he joined the terror group Hizbul Mujahideen on June 12.

Last week, two terrorists joined the Hizbul Mujahideen in Baramulla district. This development came in the wake of the area being declared terror free just a few months back.

The district was declared terrorist free around four months back. Images of Junaid Farooq who was missing for a few months surfaced on the social media, where he is seen holding a gun.

Another youth from Baramulla is said to have joined the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. The police had claimed four months back after the killing of three terrorists that the district had become terrorist free.