Pahalgam Attackers Identified as Pakistani Nationals, Say Security Agencies

SRINAGAR: Security agencies have gathered latest evidence confirming that the three militants involved in the Pahalgam attack were Pakistani nationals, News 18 reported citing officials.

According to officials, their identity was confirmed through biometric records of Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), voter identity slips and digital satellite phone data, including logs and GPS waypoints. They said that the post-encounter investigation, including ballistics weapon-to-cartridge match and statements of two detained Kashmiri helpers, corroborated the militants involvement in the Pahalgam attack.

The militants were killed during an encounter with the security forces in Dachigam forest on the outskirts of Srinagar on July 28 during “Operation Mahadev’. They had been hiding in the Dachigam-Harwan forest belt since the day of the attack.

The officials, as per Hindustan Times report, also stated that no locals were a part of the shooting team in the Pahalgam attack. They identified the three militants were as Suleman Shah alias “Faizal Jatt”, an A++ category militant, mastermind and lead shooter, his close associate Abu Hamza alias ‘Afghan’, an A-grade militant commander and the second gunman; and Yasir alias ‘Jibran’, also an A-grade commander and the third gunman.

Besides weapons, security forces also recovered Pakistani government-issued documents, comprising two laminated voter slips issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan, from the pockets of two slain militants.

Investigations further have revealed that the militants crossed the Line of Control (LoC) through north Kashmir’s Gurez sector in May 2022, when the intelligence intercepts placed their radio check-in from the Pakistani side.

On April 21, they moved into a ‘dhok’ (seasonal hut) at Hill Park, 2 km from Baisaran, as was stated by two detained helpers, Parvaiz and Bashir Ahmad Jothar, who sheltered them overnight and provided them cooked food before they trekked to Baisaran the next day to carry out the attack, officials said as reported by Tribune.