PTI New Delhi
In a major development in the Pahalgam terror attack probe, security agencies have gathered evidence, including official documents from Pakistan and biometric data, confirming that the three slain terrorists involved in the horrific incident were Pakistani nationals, officials said here on Monday.
The three senior Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commanders, who were killed in a July 28 encounter code-named ‘Operation Mahadev’ on the outskirts of Srinagar, had been hiding in the Dachigam-Harwan forest belt since the April 22 attack, the officials said.
The terror attack in Pahalgam’s Baisaran meadow had claimed 26 lives, mainly tourists. The officials also sought to clarify that no local youths were involved in the shooting during the attack.
The evidence collected by security agencies leaves no doubt about the terrorists’ nationality, with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah detailing key findings in Parliament.
Forensic, documentary and testimonial evidence collected during and after ‘Operation Mahadev’ conclusively shows that all three attackers were Pakistani nationals and hardcore terrorists of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba who had been hiding in the Dachigam-Harwan forest belt since the day of the attack, the officials said.
The slain terrorists were identified as Suleman Shah alias “Faizal Jatt”, an A++ category terrorist, mastermind and lead shooter; his close associate Abu Hamza alias ‘Afghan’, an A-grade commander and the second gunman; and Yasir alias ‘Jibran’, also an A-grade commander and the third gunman, the officials said.
Biometric records of Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), voter identity slips and digital satellite phone data, including logs and GPS waypoints, are among the evidence gathered by the security agencies confirming the Pakistani nationality of the three terrorists, the officials said.
A micro-SD chip recovered from a damaged satellite phone contained Pakistan’s NADRA biometric records, including fingerprints, facial templates, and family trees, confirming their citizenship and addresses in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
The shell casings found at the Pahalgam attack site were a 100 per cent ballistic match with the three rifles seized from the terrorists after their encounter.
Pakistani-manufactured items, including wrappers for ‘CandyLand’ and ‘ChocoMax’ chocolates (brands produced in Karachi), were found in their rucksacks. The lot numbers on these wrappers were traced to a May 2024 consignment shipped to PoK.
The terrorists crossed the line of control through north Kashmir’s Gurez sector in May 2022, when the intelligence intercepts placed their radio check-in from the Pakistani side, the officials said.
On April 21, they moved into a ‘dhok’ (seasonal hut) at Hill Park, 2 km from Baisaran, as was stated by two detained helpers, Parvaiz and Bashir Ahmad Jothar, who sheltered them overnight and provided them cooked food before they trekked to Baisaran the next day to carry out the attack.
