All 3 Pahalgam terror attackers killed in joint Op Mahadev: Amit Shah in Lok Sabha

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha that all three Pakistani terrorists involved in the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack were killed in Operation Mahadev. The joint operation was carried out on July 28 by the Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Jammu and Kashmir Police in Dachi near Srinagar. The Pahalgam attack had claimed 26 lives.

The three terrorists killed have been identified as Suleman alias Faizal, Afghan, and Jibran. Amit Shah stated that all three were A-category operatives of the Pakistan-based proscribed terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Shah named Suleman as the mastermind behind the Pahalgam attack and said all three were directly involved in the killings in Baisaran Valley.

According to Shah, the identities of the terrorists were confirmed through multiple verification methods. He said, “The people who used to supply food to them were detained earlier. Once the bodies of these terrorists were brought to Srinagar, they were identified by those who were kept detained by our agencies.” He added that four individuals, including two arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), verified their identities.

The Home Minister further stated that ballistic tests were conducted to match the weapons recovered from the terrorists with the ammunition used in the Pahalgam attack. The forensic examination was carried out at the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Chandigarh. He told the House, “We took the guns seized from the terrorists killed in Operation Mahadev to the lab in Chandigarh, where the ammunition matched.”

Shah said the operation was a significant breakthrough in identifying and neutralising those responsible for the Pahalgam attack. “In Operation Mahadev, Suleman alias Faizal..., Afghan and Jibran, these three terrorists were killed in a joint operation of the Indian Army, CRPF and J&K Police,” he stated in the Lok Sabha.