Srinagar, May 12 (IANS): Hizbul Mujahideen leader Zakir Musa has warned Hurriyat leaders that their heads will be chopped off and hung in the Lal Chowk here for interfering in the militant group's "struggle for Islam".

In an audio, which has gone viral on social media, Zakir is heard saying: "I am warning all those hypocrite Hurriyat leaders. They must not interfere in our Islamic struggle. If they do, we will cut their heads and hang them in Lal Chowk".

The militant leader asserted that his outfit was clear in its motives of "fighting to impose a Shariat in Kashmir and not resolving the Kashmir issue by calling it a political struggle".

"Those leaders should know that the struggle is for Islam, for Shariat," he was heard saying in the over five-minute audio clip. IANS can not confirm the authenticity of the audio clip.

Urging the people of Kashmir to unite against the Hurriyat's "hycocrisy", Zakir says: "We all should love our religion and we should realise that we are fighting for Islam. If the Hurriyat leaders think it is not so, then why have we been hearing the slogan 'Azaadi ka matlab kya - La ilaha il Allah', why have they (Hurriyat groups) been using mosques in their politics?"

The Hizbul Mujahideen has been waging a silent battle to upstage the Hurriyat Conference since the 2016 uprising. Last week, the militant outfit also released a statement asking women protesters to not come on the roads to protest.

Militants from the group are also believed to be behind the killing of Kashmiri Army officer Ummer Fayaz earlier this week.