In this paper, a novel moving target detection and tracking approach is presented based on Gaussian mixture probability hypothesis density (GMPHD) filter in synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Based on the advantages of GMPHD filter and the characteristics of moving target in SAR imagery, GMPHD filter is employed on potential moving target candidates extracted from a sequence of temporal and spatial sub-aperture SAR images to detect and track the moving targets in heavy clutter environment. Utilizing the tracking algorithm, the states and the number of moving targets are obtained over time. Simultaneously, the strong ground stationary clutter lacking of the dynamic behavior is eliminated finally. Both simulation and real Gotcha data set processing results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.