Terrorist who led Pahalgam attack killed in J&K gunfight

NEW DELHI:

Over three months after Pakistani terrorists gunned down 26 civilians, including 25 tourists, at Pahalgam, the Army's para commandos have killed Suleiman, believed to be the lead killer of the gang, in Dachigam forest area on the outskirts of Srinagar.

Two other terrorists were also killed in a joint operation involving the Army, CRPF and JK police, though there was no clarity yet on their involvement in the Pahalgam massacre.All the three terrorists killed on Monday in 'Operation Mahadev' were Pakistani nationals and linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba and its offshoot The Resistance Front, as per sources. A source indicated that the two terrorists killed with Suleiman could be Abu Hamza and Yasir, but officials would run more checks before confirming their identity.There was no official statement on Operation Mahadev. However, sources told TOI that Pahalgam has been avenged with the killing of Suleiman - a former Pakistani special forces commando who had trained at LeT Muridke hub in Pakistan's Punjab province before crossing the LoC in 2022 to enter Jammu region with his M-4 weapon - in the operation.Pak squad behind Pahalgam killings, ISI-LeT plotted it A manhunt for the three-member Pahalgam attack squad that included Suleiman has been on since the day they rounded up tourists and killed them in front of their horror-struck families at Pahalgam.

Sources said latest technical intelligence - based on tracking of activity on the encrypted Chinese app Ultra - had found three Pakistani terrorists hiding in Mahadev hill - from which Operation Mahadev got its name - in Dachigam.

Suleiman had been on the move after the Pahalgam attack, traversing the forest dotting the Tral-Kulgam-Pahalgam tri-junction.Recoveries from the terrorists' hideout included an M4 carbine, two AK rifles and grenades.As per the standard procedure, the neutralised terrorists will be laid to rest in unmarked graves in a designated burial ground.As exclusively reported by TOI on July 15, the Pahalgam attack resulted from a closely guarded conspiracy hatched by Pakistan spy agency ISI and LeT on the directions of the country's political and military brass. It was executed by Pakistani terrorists.In what sources described as an LeT-ISI joint project akin to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, ISI gave specific directives to Pakistan-based Lashkar commander Sajid Jutt to deploy only foreign terrorists for the targeted killings at Pahalgam.

To ensure secrecy, no Kashmiri terrorists were included in the attack squad; local involvement for logistics too was 'minimal' and on a "need-to-know" basis. Satellite phone analysis revealed Suleiman's location in Tral forest on April 15, indicating he was in the vicinity of Baisaran for almost a week before the attack.Suleiman was also involved in the April 2023 attack on an Army truck in Poonch, in which five soldiers were killed.

However, he laid low for two years after the incident.Even though the J&K Police had earlier suspected the role of Pakistani terrorists Hashim Musa and Ali Bhai in the Pahalgam massacre, the probe so far has only confirmed Suleiman's involvement. This Suleiman is different from Hashim Musa, whose nom de guerre is Sulaiman."No local terrorist had participated in the Pahalgam attack, nor was in the loop on the terror plot," a senior official told TOI. Even the role of the two locals arrested by NIA was limited to providing the armed Pakistani terrorists food, shelter and other logistics, for a few thousand rupees.