Pahalgam Attack Foreign Terrorist Identity Confirmed: The three foreign terrorists who were involved in the deadly attack of Pahalgam and along with the security forces were Pakistani citizens. The Indian security agencies have gathered all evidence including documents and biometric data released by the Government of Pakistan regarding the identity of the attackers. Which confirms his Pakistani citizenship. The concerned officials gave this information themselves on Monday.
The terrorists, known as Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, were killed on July 28 in an encounter with security forces in the forest of Dachigam, the outskirts of Srinagar. This operation was run under the name ‘Mahadev’. These terrorists were hiding in the Dachigam-Harwan forest area since the attack at Basaron Maidan in Pahalgam on 22 April, in which 26 people lost their lives.
Investigating officials told PTI that the evidence collected shows that no local person was included in these terrorists. The biometric records of Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), voter ID card and digital satellite phone data, including logs and GPS vapoints, are among the decisive evidence collected by security agencies, which confirm the Pakistani nationality of the three terrorists.
According to officials, after the encounter investigation, including the statements of two Kashmiri helpers matched and detained, all of which confirmed the involvement of terrorists in the Pahalgam attack.
A senior official said, “For the first time, we have Pakistani documents issued by the government that prove the nationality of Pahalgam attackers beyond suspicion.”
Officials said that during ‘Operation Mahadev’ and then the forensic, documentary and evidence collected decisively reveal that the three attackers were Pakistani citizens and senior members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, who were hiding in Dachigam-Harwan forest area since the day of the attack. He also told that no Kashmiri was involved in the shootout team.
Officials said the slain terrorists have been identified as A ++ category terrorist, mastermind and chief shooter Suleman Shah aka Faizal Jatt; His close aide Abu Hamza aka ‘Afghan’, who was A-Grade Commander and another gunman; And Yasir aka ‘Jibran’, who was also an A-grade commander and the third gunman.
He said that with weapons, security forces recovered documents released by the Government of Pakistan from Shah and Hamza’s pockets, such as two laminated voter slips issued by the Pakistan Election Commission. According to officials, voters’ numbers are related to the voter lists of Lahore (NA-125) and Gujranwala (NA-79) respectively.
Officials said that the Nadra-related smart-ID chips (a micro-SD recovered from a damaged satellite phone) had Nadra biometric records (fingers, facial samples, family trees) of the three individuals, which confirm their addresses in their Pakistani citizenship and Rawalakot, Pakistan Authorized Kashmir (POK).
Officials said the personal items manufactured in Pakistan such as ‘Candeland’ and ‘Chocomax’ chocolate (brand made in both Karachi) were found in the same Raksack in which additional magazines were placed. He further explained that the lot number printed on the rappers was of a consignment sent to Muzaffarabad, PoK in May 2024.
Based on forensic and technical confirmation, officials said that the 7.62×39 mm of hollow found in Basaron was tested on July 28 on three AK-103 rifles seized and stripe marks were matched 100 percent, while the mitocondrial profiles found out of the bloods found on a torn bodies found in Pahalgam were found from the dead bodies of the three terrorists.
Officials said that in May 2022, when intelligence information was received from Pakistan, the terrorists crossed the Line of Control (LoC) from Gurez sector of North Kashmir.
On 21 April, he started living in a ‘Dhok’ (seasonal hut) in Hill Park, 2 km from Basaron, as two detained helpers, Pravez and Bashir Ahmed Jothar. He sheltered him overnight and gave him a cooked food before going to Basaron to attack the next day.
Officials said that the GPS Vepoints recovered from Shah’s gamin device match the accurate situation of firing stated by eyewitnesses. He also told that after the attack, he ran towards Dachigam. Officials said that after the shell encounter of the cartridge found at the scene, they match the three rifles recovered from the terrorists.
Based on digital footprints, he reported that a Huawei satellite phone used by terrorists (IMEI 86761204-XXXXXX) was pinging the Inmarsat-4 F1 every night between 22 April to 25 July. With triangularization, the search area was limited to four square kilometers inside the Harwan forest.
Jammu and Kashmir Police released sketches of three people – Hashim Musa, Ali Bhai alias Talha and local Adil Hussain Thokar – on 24 April. However, after the July 28 encounter, the agencies clarified that the sketches were based on a photo received on a phone from an unrelated show of December 2024. Dalals and real attackers were different.
Officials said that another important evidence of Pakistan’s involvement in the attack was the command and control contact inside the neighboring country. He said that South-Kashmir Operation of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Sajid Saifullah Jatt, resident of Changa Manga in Lahore, was the main operator of the attack as his voice samples from the recovered satellite phone matched his earlier intercepting calls.
Officials said that Rawalkot chief Rizwan Anees of Lashkar-e-Taiba had also met the families of the attackers killed on 29 July to organize ‘Ghabana Namaz-e-Janaza’ (Janaza in absence) and its footage is now part of the Indian doseer.
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