New Delhi: Hizbul Mujahideen has appointed Gazi Haider as its new operation chief in Kashmir, replacing Riyaz Naikoo who was killed in a gunfight last week.
Quoting a statement of Hizb Ul Mujahideen several media reports in Srinagar and Delhii said the appointment of the new operational commander of the outfit was announced at a meeting of the Hizb Ul Mujahideen council held under the chairmanship of United Jihad Council , a conglomeration of several militant outfits and Hizb supremo Syed Salah Ud Din. The meeting had been called to mourn the death of Naikoo and his aides, Mohammad Bin Qasim and Mohammad Adil who were killed Beighpora in Pulwama district of south Kashmir.
Besides announcing the appointment of Gazi Haider, the banned group based in Pakistan, during the meet, also announced Zaffar-ul-Islam as “deputy of Haider and Abu Tariq as his “chief military advisor”, the reports said.