Two Year Old Image Of Slain Hizbul Terrorist Revived

A two-year-old photograph of slain Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Sabzar Ahmed Bhat is being shared online with a false claim that Bhat was killed along with ten other terrorists in a military operation in Tral (Jammu and Kashmir) on May 27, 2019. This comes at a time when another Hizbul commander and chief of Al Qaeda's Kashmir cell - Zakir Musa- was killed by the Indian Army last week.

Musa was killed in an encounter with the military in Tral on May 23, 2019 while Sabzar Ahmed Bhat was killed in an encounter with the armed forces in May 2017.

The caption with the post reads, "big success for Army as today the armed forces shot down Hizbul commander Sabzar Ahmed along with ten other terrorists. Operation All Out was started two years ago."

(Hindi: सेना को मिली बड़ी कामयाबी, आज हिजबुल कमांडर सब्जार अहमद सहित 10 आंतकवादियों को मार गिराया। सेना के वीर जाबांजो को सैल्यूट..आज से दो वर्ष पूर्व शुरू हुआ था ऑपरेशन ऑलआउट |)

You can view the post here and its archived version can be accessed here.

Fact check

BOOM searched with keywords 'Sabzar Bhatt' and found that Bhat was killed in an encounter with the military on May 27, 2017. Back then, the J&K police had tweeted about the incident from its official Twitter handle.

Bhat, who had succeeded Burhan Wani in the valley, was much talked about in his death as he had enjoyed a social media celebrity status in Kashmir. The encounter was reported widely in the media.

Read more reports on Sabzar Bhat's encounter here and here.