Security agencies have definitively confirmed that three foreign terrorists killed in a recent encounter were Pakistani nationals, directly linking them to the deadly April 22 attack in Pahalgam that claimed 26 lives. The terrorists, identified as senior Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives, were eliminated on July 28 in Srinagar’s Dachigam forest during ‘Operation Mahadev’.
Conclusive Evidence of Pakistani Nationality
Officials revealed that a trove of irrefutable evidence establishes the terrorists’ Pakistani origin, dispelling any notion of local involvement. This includes:
- Government-issued Pakistani documents: Two laminated voter slips issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan were recovered from the pockets of two of the slain terrorists, Suleman Shah and Abu Hamza. Their voter serial numbers correspond to electoral rolls in Lahore (NA-125) and Gujranwala (NA-79).
- Biometric Data: A micro-SD card recovered from a damaged satellite phone contained NADRA (Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority) biometric records (fingerprints, facial templates, and family trees) of all three individuals. This data confirmed their Pakistani citizenship and provided addresses in Changa Manga (Kasur district) and Koiyan village near Rawalakot, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
- Pakistan-manufactured items: Wrappers of Pakistani brands of chocolates (‘CandyLand’ and ‘ChocoMax’, both produced in Karachi) were found, with lot numbers traced to a May 2024 consignment shipped to Muzaffarabad, PoK.
- Digital Satellite Phone Data: Logs and GPS waypoints from a Huawei satellite phone used by the terrorists were crucial. The phone pinged Inmarsat-4 F1 nightly between April 22 and July 25, allowing triangulation that narrowed their hiding spot to a four-square-kilometer area in Harwan forest. GPS data from Shah’s Garmin device matched eyewitness accounts of firing positions during the Pahalgam attack.
Unmasking the Terrorists and Their Movements
The slain terrorists were identified as:
- Suleman Shah alias “Faizal Jatt”: An A++ category terrorist, identified as the mastermind and lead shooter.
- Abu Hamza alias ‘Afghan’: An A-grade commander and the second gunman, a close associate of Shah.
- Yasir alias ‘Jibran’: Also an A-grade commander and the third gunman.
Investigations revealed their extensive planning and movements:
- Infiltration: The terrorists crossed the Line of Control (LoC) through north Kashmir’s Gurez sector in May 2022, with intelligence intercepts confirming their radio check-in from the Pakistani side.
- Hiding and Logistics: They had been hiding in the Dachigam-Harwan forest belt since the Pahalgam attack. Two detained Kashmiri helpers, Parvaiz and Bashir Ahmad Jothar, corroborated their movements, stating they sheltered the terrorists overnight on April 21 at a ‘dhok’ (seasonal hut) near Baisaran, providing them food before the attack.
- Forensic Links: Ballistics confirmed a 100% match between 7.62x39mm casings found at the Baisaran attack site and the three AK-103 rifles seized from the terrorists. Additionally, mitochondrial profiles extracted from blood on a torn shirt found in Pahalgam matched the DNA of the three bodies.
Command and Control from Pakistan
Further evidence points to direct command and control links within Pakistan:
- Handler Identification: LeT’s South-Kashmir operations chief, Sajid Saifullah Jatt of Changa Manga, Lahore, was identified as the overall handler. His voice samples from the recovered satellite phone matched earlier intercepted calls.
- Funeral Prayers in Absentia: LeT Rawalakot chief Rizwan Anees reportedly visited the families of the slain attackers on July 29 to organize ‘Ghaibana Namaz-e-Janaza’ (funeral prayers in absentia), footage of which is now part of the Indian dossier.
While initial sketches released on April 24 identified different individuals, security agencies clarified after the July 28 encounter that those sketches were based on a photograph from an unrelated December 2024 shootout, and the actual attackers were indeed the three Pakistani nationals killed in ‘Operation Mahadev’.
