Hamza Burhan, brain behind Pulwama terror attack, shot dead in PoK

Burhan, alias Arjumand Gulzar Dar, alias Doctor, a commander of Pakistan-backed terror outfit Al-Badr, was designated as a terrorist by India in April 2022 for his involvement in a series of terror acts in Jammu and Kashmir.

He had been living undercover as a teacher in the PoK following the Pulwama attack.

According to the sources, Burhan, a principal of a private college in Gojra, Muzaffarabad, was targeted when he came out of his college on Thursday morning.

The attackers fired multiple shots from close range, they said.

The sources said the police had arrested a suspect and recovered a weapon used in the attack.

Burhan is believed to have worked as an over ground worker at the time of the Pulwama attack.

He reportedly played a central role in creating and circulating posters, videos and digital propaganda material used by the Al-Badr to radicalise local youth and spread anti-India narratives across Kashmir.

The sources said his work formed a key component of the terror group’s “narrative warfare” strategy aimed at glorifying militancy and influencing vulnerable individuals.

They said Burhan was actively involved in recruiting young boys and motivating them to take up arms and participate in drug-related activities.

Several recruits linked to these activities were later booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the sources said.

Burhan hailed from Kharbatpora village in the Ratnipora area of Pulwama district. In 2017, he reportedly travelled to Pakistan reportedly to pursue higher education, but later joined the banned Al-Badr, eventually emerging as one of its commanders.

He later returned to Kashmir and was accused of radicalising local youth and building a network that extended from Pulwama to neighbouring Shopian in South Kashmir.

Burhan’s killing is being seen as part of a broader pattern in recent months in which several designated terrorists linked to various Pakistan-based terror outfits have been targeted and killed by unidentified gunmen inside Pakistan and the PoK.

On April 27, LeT commander Sheikh Yusuf Afridi, a close aide of 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed, was shot dead in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while on April 16, LeT co-founder Amir Hamza was shot dead in Lahore.