Terrorists Used Trekking App, Stayed At Dhok: Plot To Target Pahalgam Tourists Was Active A Week Before Attack

Last Updated:June 25, 2026, 10:25 IST

As many as 26 people, including a local ponywallah, were killed after terrorists launched attacks in one of the deadliest terror attacks in the Kashmir valley in decades

The plot to attack tourists at Baisaran Valley in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam was in motion around April 15, a week before the assault happened, according to digital records extracted from the mobile phone of a terrorist who was killed in ‘Operation Mahadev’.

The revelation features in the chargesheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the April 22 Pahalgam attack, which had left 25 tourists and a local dead, the Indian Express reported.

The phone of a terrorist, who was killed in the Srinagar area on July 28, 2025, featured “two map screenshots time-stamped April 15 and 16, depicting locations near Baisaran", as underlined in the NIA’s probe.

“These timestamps show the conspiracy was live at least from April 15 onwards." The points were plotted in a mobile app, which terrorists were using to receive “coordinates from the (Pakistan-based) handler Sajid Jatt", said the agency, as per the Indian Express. 

Three terrorists –– Faisal Jatt alias Suleman, Habeeb Tahir alias Jibran, and Hamza Afghani –– were gunned down in the Dachigam forests near Srinagar on July 28 after the the Indian Army, CRPF, and Jammu and Kashmir Police launched ‘Operation Mahadev’.

2 Locals Named Accused For Providing Food, Shelter To Terrorists

According to the probe, the three terrorists visited a seasonal dhok (a mud hut) of local resident Parvaiz Ahmad on April 21. Ahmad and his uncle, Bashir Ahmad Jothad, were named accused in the attack for “knowingly harbouring the three armed terrorists", as per an NIA press release.

“The two men had provided food, shelter and logistical support to the terrorists, who had, on the fateful afternoon, selectively killed the tourists on the basis of their religious identity, making it one of the most gruesome terrorist attacks ever", read the statement.

According to the agency’s probe so far, terrorist handler Sajid Ali alias Ali Bhai was frequently in touch with the terrorists, assisting them with directions and navigational data for further movements, the Indian Express reported.

As many as 26 people –– including a local ponywallah named Syed Adil Hussain Shah –– were killed after terrorists launched attacks in one of the deadliest terror attacks in the Kashmir valley in decades.

The assault had seen further deteriorating ties between India and Pakistan, with New Delhi suspending the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), and subsequently launching ‘Operation Sindoor’ to target nine terror camps in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) and Pak’s Punjab province.

A total of 100 terrorists were killed in the operation, which also led to retaliatory actions from Pakistan.

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