Top Hizbul Mujahideen commander Sabzar Ahmad Bhat, who replaced Burhan Muzafar Wani after he was killed in Anantnag in July last year, is reportedly one of the two terrorists killed in Tral, Kashmir on Saturday. Wani's killing had sparked violence in the Kashmir Valley for months.
Bhat replaced Wani as the commander of Kashmir-based militant group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen following the latter’s death on 8 July 2016. Bhat, son of Ghulam Hassan Bhat, hails from South Kashmir’s Tral area in Pulwama district and it is said that a failed love affair drew him towards terrorism.
India Today claims that Bhat had been following Burhan Wani since 2010, but joined the Hizbul in 2015 after Wani’s elder brother Khalid was killed. The late militant commander was Wani’s trusted aide and an over-ground worker for the latter in Tral. Some reports speculate a childhood friendship between the two.
Bhat is said to have led the social media campaign by terror groups for the past 3 years in Kashmir.
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