Locals forced militants to beat a hasty retreat when they were busy trying to loot a bank at Noorpora at Tral in Pulwama in south Kashmir on Monday.
According to police, the locals pelted stones on three militants belonging to Ansar Gazwatul Hind, an Al Qaeda affiliate led by Zakir Musa, disrupting their plan to loot the bank.
SSP Awantipora Mohammad Zahid Malik said around 2.10 pm Zakir and two of his associates fired several bullets after locals forced them to flee the spot.
The three militants, however, managed to decamp with Rs 97,256 from the Noorpura branch of J&K bank.
''We have established nakas on Tral-Awantipora road to nab the culprits," Malik said
After the incident, police launched search operations in the area and carried out checking of the vehicles on Tral- Awantipora road.
Zakir, a former aide of slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, broke ranks with Hizbul after Burhan's killing on July 8, 2016 and later formed the Ansarul Gazwatul Hind.
His group, according to police, comprises mostly militants who believe in Al Qaeda and IS ideology.
Zakir has also been very critical of militant groups who are supported by Pakistan.
In May, he threatened to kill Hurriyat Conference leaders for opposing his idea of establishing an Islamic State in Kashmir and also called Pakistan an apostate state.
He warned Hurriyat Conference leaders to desist from changing the nature of Kashmir issue from a "struggle for Islam to political one".
Police sources said militants have resorted to the looting of the banks due to tightening of the screws on hawala funding by the NIA.
Before joining the militancy, Zakir, who belongs to an affluent family, was studying engineering in a college in Chandigarh. His father Abdul Rashid Bhat is a high-ranking government engineer while his older brother is a doctor and sister a bank executive. He joined militancy on July 17, 2013, and was among the top contenders to replace Burhan.
