25-year-old Shamsul Haq Mengnoo joined the outfit on May 25 this year on fleeing from the college campus at Zakura. Mengnoo is the younger brother of an IPS officer of the Northeast cadre. Hizbul Mujahideen released pictures of new recruits on social media on Sunday to coincide with the death anniversary of Burhan Wani

SRINAGAR: The younger brother of an IPS officer of the Northeast cadre joined the terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen after disappearing from the Kashmir University campus on May 22 this year, according to a photograph released by the outfit in which he is shown holding an assault rifle and sporting a holstered pistol.

The photograph of the armed Shamsul Haq Mengnoo went viral in Jammu and Kashmir after the Hizb released pictures of about a dozen new recruits on social media on Sunday to coincide with the death anniversary of its slain commander, Burhan Wani.

Among the photographs of the others is 25-year-old Shamsul Haq Mengnoo, originally from Draggud village of south Kashmir's Shopian district. A BUMS (Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery) dropout, Shamsul joined the outfit on May 25 this year on fleeing from the college campus at Zakura, on the outskirts of Srinagar, a senior police officer said.

Shamsul's elder brother, Inamul Haq, is a 2012-batch IPS officer posted in the Northeast. Shamsul's parents had filed a missing person report with the concerned police station at Zakura on May 22.

The text accompanying the picture says he joined the Hizb on May 25 and his codename, as shown in the picture, is "Burhan Sani".

Over the past two years, the number of youths becoming terrorists in Kashmir has grown and even well-educated youth appear to have been motivated towards militancy. Over 50 youths have joined the ranks of terrorists so far this year.

According to family sources, Shamsul Haq, son of Mohammad Rafiq Mengnoo, had been pursuing a Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery degree from a government college on the Zakura campus.

Meanwhile, clashes were reported from Nowdal village in Tral area of Pulwama district, south Kashmir, on Sunday, the second death anniversary of slain terrorist commander Burhan Wani.

Reports said dozens of youths tried to march towards Burhan Wani's native village, Shaiefabad, in Tral, to pay tribute, but the security forces fired tear gas shells to disperse them, triggering clashes in the area. The authorities had imposed curfew in Tral since Saturday.

On Friday, terrorists had appeared at the graveyard at Bemdoora village in Tral, where Wani was buried, and fired several dozen shots in the air as a salute, reports said.

The "Joint Resistance Leadership", comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, had called for a valley-wide shutdown on July 8 to mark Wani's death anniversary.