Search operations initiated by the security forces in Noorpora village of Tral in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district was called off on Saturday morning after militants escaped the area, said a Greater Kashmir report.
Villagers poured out of their homes and pelted stones on Friday after security forces cordoned off the village and began conducting house-to-house searches after receiving inputs that militants, including Zakir Musa, a former Hizbul Mujahideen commander, were present in the area.
Zakir Musa, a resident of Noorpora , is the chief of Jammu and Kashmir’s Al-Qaeda affiliate, officials said.
Police said more security personnel – including the police, the Army and the Central Reserve Police Force – had been rushed to the area and three more villages were later brought under the extended cordon.
The former Hizbul Mujahideen leader was named the chief of Indian wing of al-Qaeda in July. The new cell, in India, has been named Ansar Ghawzat-ul-Hind.
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