Srinagar, July 28 – In a major breakthrough, security forces on Monday killed three Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists, including the mastermind and a participant of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, during an intense encounter in Srinagar district.
The gunfight, codenamed Operation Mahadev, took place in the upper reaches of Dachigam National Park near Mahadev Peak in Harwan. The joint operation involved the Indian Army, CRPF and J&K Police.
Officials confirmed that the slain terrorists were identified as Suleiman Shah, alias Hashim Moosa, Abu Hamza, and Jabran – all Pakistani nationals. Suleiman, a former Pakistan Army soldier, was the key planner of the Pahalgam massacre that killed 26 people, while Jabran is suspected to have directly participated in the attack.
“Suleiman carried a bounty of Rs 20 lakh and had been hiding in Kashmir since 2022,” an official said. Reinforcements were rushed to the operation site due to the difficult terrain and nearby population.
The success of Operation Mahadev coincided with a debate in the Lok Sabha on the Pahalgam attack and the subsequent Operation Sindoor, under which the Indian armed forces carried out precision strikes on terror infrastructure inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Following the April 22 attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given security forces a free hand to dismantle the terror network. Nine terror camps were destroyed in retaliatory strikes, while Pakistan responded with cross-border attacks that damaged civilian properties and religious places in Jammu’s Poonch district.
Security agencies said the ongoing anti-terror operations now focus not just on neutralising terrorists but also on dismantling the wider terror ecosystem, including Over Ground Workers (OGWs) and sympathisers, with the help of advanced technology and human intelligence.
The area around Dachigam has been cordoned off for further sanitisation.
