Burhan Wani’s successor in the Hizbul Mujahideen, Sabzar Ahmad Bhat was shot down after a hours-long encounter with the Indian Army in the Tral region of Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
The Indian security forces had set a search operation from Srinagar in Tral’s Soimoh village after they were tipped off about the presence of some big Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists in the region.
1) Sabzar Ahmad Bhatt has been leading the outfit ever since former leader of the Hizbul Mujahideen was shot dead by Indian security forces in December last year. Sabzar Bhat is also known as the ‘Sab Don’ and has featured in several videos and pictures circulated in the terrorist outfit.
2) Bhat is a local of South Kashmir’s Tral and had been Burhan Wani’s right-hand man for two years when the latter was the leader of the group. This gave him access and links to manage the group after Wani’s death.
3)Bhat was a childhood friend of Wani, who had become an important member of the group when he had managed to snatch a rifle during the protests after Wani’s older brother Khalid was killed.
5) Sabzar Bhat was considered to be an A++ grade terrorist in Kashmir. Bhat was reportedly popular in Tral and even though Mujahideen never made any official announcement, Sabazar was considered to be the operational chief after Zakir Rashid had quit the outfit some 15 days ago.
6) Sabzar was one of the 11 people in one of Burhan Wani’s earliest photos, which were aimed to go viral and gain sympathy from Kashmiris. Bhat was considered to be the mastermind behind the operation of the Hizbul Mujahideen.
7) Sabzar Bhat had a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh against his name. According to reports, he had once earlier been trapped in a gunfight with the security forces, earlier this year.
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