Zakir Rashid Bhat

Zakir Rashid Bhat (born on 24 July 1994), is a militant operating within Kashmir, India under the alias Commander Musa. Musa joined the terrorist group Hizbul Mujahideen in 2013. He is the current commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, a position previously held by Burhan Muzaffar Wani until his death at the hands of Indian security forces. Discontent over Wani's death led to the 2016 Kashmir Unrest. He later threatened to behead Hurriyat leaders for calling Kashmir conflict a political one instead of a religious one to establish Islamic rule. He also warned them to not become a "thorn" in imposition of Shariah. Hizbul Mujahideen disassociated itself from the statement a day after his threatening message. Musa in response quit the organization.

In July 2017, the Global Islamic Media Front claimed that Zakir Musa had been named the head of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, a newly created cell of al-Qaeda.

Early life
Zakir Rashid Bhat was born in Noorpora, Tral in South Kashmir to Abdul Rashid Bhat, a senior engineer with the state government. Zakir Musa was a student of civil engineering at a Chandigarh college. He quit Ram Dev Jindal College, Chandigarh in 2013 after failing his exams. Musa's father is a government employee in the irrigation department.

Musa got admission to class 9th at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Pulwama in 2008, he continued his studies at Noor Public School in his up to Class 10th. He then went to the government higher secondary institution at Noorpora and passed his 12th in 2011. After dropping out of college, Musa joined the militant group Hizbul Mujahideen in the autumn of 2013 at the behest of his close friend, Idrees.

Hizbul Mujahideen
The Hizbul Mujahideen had earlier named Mehmood Ghaznavi as Wani’s successor but that is possibly an alias of Bhat. He issued his first video in Kashmir in August 2016. He is sometimes described as "part of a new generation of tech-savvy, well-educated militants" who became involved in the conflict after the 2010 Kashmir unrest. He quit the group after it refused to back his statements supporting his argument that the struggle was for Islam and not political.

Following the elimination of Sabzar Bhat in Tral, intercepted Hizbul Mujahideen communications suggested that many militants believed that Sabzar Bhat had been betrayed by Musa.

Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind
Musa was announced as the head of newly created organization and al-Qaeda-cell in Jammu and Kashmir called Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind by al-Qaeda-affiliated Global Islamic Media Front on 27 July 2017. After the killing of militant commander Abu Dujana and Arif Lelhari, a statement purported to be of Musa was released. The purported statement claimed that Dujana and Lelhari had joined al-Qaeda and helped set it up. The officials stated that the voice of the message matched those of the earlier audio clips by Musa, though the state's DGP S.P. Vaid stated there was no way of authenticating the clips, though there were reports Dujana and Musa were close. Meanwhile, an audio-clip circulated on media claimed to be Dujana and Arif's last message during their encounter. Two voices claim allegiance to al-Qaeda, however, no gunfire is heard and the authenticity of the clip wasn't claimed.

It was reported on 12 August that Musa and his aide evaded an anti-terror operation with the locals pelting security forces with stones in Noorpora village of Tral. In an audio message released on August 31, Musa attacked Pakistan for "betraying Kashmir jihad". He also stated that the objective of Al-Qaeda's Kashmir cell was to clear it from the Pakistan government, army, and their sponsored agents. He also threatened to "liberate India" from "cow-worshippers". Hizbul put up posters in Sopore in September 2017, blaming him as being responsible for helping Indian security forces kill Kashmiris, asking people to chase him to death and calling him an "Indian agent".