NEW DELHI, July 29 – Indian Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday confirmed that three top Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, including the mastermind of the April 22 Pahalgam massacre, were eliminated by security forces in an encounter near Srinagar.
Speaking during a special discussion in the Lok Sabha on Operation Sindoor, Shah said the terrorists—Suleman alias Faizal, Hamza Afghani, and Jibran—were killed on Monday under Operation Mahadev, a joint counter-terror mission by the Indian Army, CRPF, and Jammu & Kashmir Police.
“These terrorists were responsible for the brutal killings of 26 civilians in Baisaran Valley. All three have now been eliminated,” Shah said.
Identification and Forensic Confirmation
Shah detailed the multi-layered process used to confirm their involvement in the massacre. Individuals previously detained for providing logistical support—food, shelter, and safe passage—were brought in to visually identify the bodies of the slain militants.
In addition, ballistics experts at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) matched the weapons recovered at the encounter site—M9 and AK-47 rifles—to cartridges found at the Pahalgam attack scene.
“I personally spoke to six forensic experts this morning. They confirmed that the bullets fired in the Pahalgam massacre matched the recovered weapons,” Shah told the House.
Pakistani Links
Security forces recovered Pakistani voter IDs and chocolates manufactured in Pakistan from the dead militants. Shah said the evidence proves direct cross-border involvement in the planning and execution of the attack.
“After the Pahalgam killings, we gave strict orders that none of the perpetrators should be allowed to escape the region. Our agencies tracked them down and neutralised them inside Indian territory,” he added.
Pahalgam Attack: A ‘Barbaric’ Crime
Calling the April 22 incident a barbaric terrorist attack, Shah said the victims, mostly tourists, were targeted based on their religion and murdered in front of their families. The massacre triggered national outrage and led to Operation Sindoor, India’s retaliatory missile strikes on terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC) on May 7.
“After Pakistan’s firing on civilians and damage to temples and gurdwaras, we responded with strength. Our government has zero tolerance towards terrorism,” Shah said.
He also offered condolences to the victims’ families, both from the Pahalgam massacre and the subsequent Pakistani shelling.