New LeT commander from Pakistan, has already entered Valley: Police

The new commander was named 10 days after the killing of Abdul Rehman alias Qasim, who was killed in an encounter in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district.

Police sources said Musa has recently sneaked into the Valley and is reportedly in north Kashmir now. They added that a group of LeT members had moved to north Kashmir to bring Musa to the southern part of the Valley, where the terror group has a good presence. Officials, however, could not confirm if Musa had already been shifted.

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Earlier, there were reports that Qasim’s deputy Dujhanna, who is already operating in south Kashmir, will take over as LeT commander, considering his experience and network base. But LeT has chosen to elevate Musa instead.

The new commander, police sources said, has earlier served in the Valley. He goes by the nom-de-guerre, Mir Faisel and Salahudin, they added.

Police sources said that they were trying to establish whether Musa is the same militant commander Salahudin, who was operational chief of Lashkar in early 2000, and operated from the forests of Bandipore.

Salahudin was one of the top wanted militants at the time and reportedly crossed over to PoK after massive searches was launched against him.

“We are trying to gather more details about the new LeT commander. We have already got some inputs,” said a top
police officer.