NIA Confirms Identities of LeT Terrorists Killed in Srinagar Encounter Linked to Pahalgam Attack

Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has reportedly verified the identities of three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists, killed in a gunbattle in Srinagar's Harwan woods on Monday, as the perpetrators of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

The police sources said that an NIA team arrived at the Police Control Room (PCR) in Srinagar to oversee the identification of the slain terrorists, believed to include Sulieman Shah alias Hashim Musa, the alleged mastermind of the Pahalgam attack, along with his associates Jibran and Hamza Afghani. The NIA is conducting the identification process in batches of two to three witnesses to ensure "cent percent confirmation" of Sulieman Shah’s identity, the sources had added.

Although the NIA has not officially confirmed, security sources suggest that two Kashmiri men, arrested last month for allegedly providing food, shelter, and logistical support to three Pakistani LeT terrorists, aided the investigation. The duo Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar and Bashir Ahmad Jothar, from Batkote and Hill Park in Pahalgam, detained under Section 19 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, revealed details about the attackers’ identities and confirmed their Pakistani origins, the sources said.

The Pahalgam attack, in which 25 tourists and a local horse-handler were killed, was attributed to LeT and initially claimed by its proxy, The Resistance Front (TRF), led to widespread international condemnation and escalated tensions, culminating in a four-day India-Pakistan conflict under Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7.

Earlier during the day on Tuesday, Union home minister Amit Shah, speaking in Parliament during a discussion on Operation Sindoor, confirmed the elimination of the three terrorists responsible for the Pahalgam massacre.

The terrorists were neutralized in a joint operation, codenamed ‘Operation Mahadev,’ by the Army’s elite para commandos, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Jammu and Kashmir Police in the Lidwas area of Harwan, near Dachigam National Park, early Monday.

The police and Army sources here said that a Huawei satellite phone, monitored since April 22, played a key role in tracking the terrorists, with an unusual call on July 26 triggering the operation. The encounter resulted in the recovery of one M4 carbine rifle, two AK rifles, and other munitions, according to the sources.

Lieutenant General Pratik Sharma, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C), Northern Command, met J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at Raj Bhavan here on Tuesday to brief him on ‘Operation Mahadev’. He was accompanied by Lt. Gen. Prashant Srivastava, General Officer Commanding of Srinagar-based 15 Corps-also known as Chinar Corps .

The official sources said that Sinha commended the Army, CRPF, and J&K Police for the success of ‘Operation Mahadev’, conducted in the challenging Dachigam forest area. Lt. Gen. Sharma, the sources said, told the Lt. Governor that search operations had been ongoing in South Kashmir, including the Dachigam forest, for months due to persistent reports of terrorist activity.

Media personnel had been invited to a briefing by the GOC, Chinar Corps, alongside senior Army and CAPF officers, on "Operation Mahadev" at Srinagar's Badami Bagh Cantonment at 5 pm on Monday. However, the meet was “postponed” after officials were informed that Union Home Minister Shah would announce the elimination of the Pahalgam attack perpetrators in Parliament, currently in session in New Delhi.

The police sources said that Suleman Shah, a former Pakistani Special Service Group para-commando, had infiltrated India in 2023 and was linked to multiple attacks, including a deadly October 20, 2024 terror attack in which a local doctor and six construction workers-both local and non-local- were killed and several others injured at Gagangir along the Srinagar-Ladakh highway in the Ganderbal district and another in Baramulla.

The sources said that following the Pahalgam attack, a large-scale operation was initiated to track the perpetrators, with intelligence over the past month indicating their possible movement toward the Dachigam area. The Dachigam hills and the Lidder Valley of Pahalgam are geographically connected through the rugged, forested terrain of the Himalayan ranges in J&K. Dachigam National Park, located about 22 km from Srinagar, lies in the Zabarwan Range and is characterized by its uneven topography, ranging from 1,600 to 4,200 meters in elevation, with dense forests, alpine meadows, and the Dagwan River flowing through it.

The NIA formally took over the investigation from the J&K Police on April 26, following directives from the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalisation division. The agency registered a First Information Report (FIR) under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Arms Act, and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). NIA teams, led by senior officers, were deployed to the attack site on April 23 to collect forensic evidence, analyze entry and exit points, and question eyewitnesses.

Days after the Pahalgam attack, security forces demolished the homes of local LeT operative Adil Hussain Thoker in Gurre village, Bijbehara, and Asif Sheikh Mongaham in Tral, Pulwama. Sketches of the suspected terrorists—Hashim Musa alias Sulieman, Adil Hussain Thoker, and Ali Bhai alias Abu Talha—were released on April 24, with a ₹20 lakh reward per suspect for information leading to their elimination. The officials had said that the NIA’s ongoing investigation aims to unravel the broader conspiracy behind the attack.

Meanwhile, former chief minister and ruling National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday stated that the killing of the perpetrators of the Pahalgam terror attack sends a strong message that terrorism will not prevail.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event here Abdullah remarked, “I haven’t seen them, and I don’t know their identities. Only those who witnessed them can confirm who they are. If they have been eliminated, it’s a positive development. It shows that terrorism will never succeed.”