Key Points

Srinagar, July 28 (IANS) A former Pakistani soldier-turned-terrorist, who was the purported mastermind of the brutal Pahalgam attack, and one of the participants, were among the three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists cornered and killed by the security forces in 'Operation Mahadev' in J&K’s Srinagar district on Monday, officials said. Notably, the key success came as the Lok Sabha began a debate on the Pahalgam attack and the resultant Operation Sindoor to take out terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Officials said that the three terrorists, killed in an encounter with the joint forces, comprising the army, the CRPF, and the J&K Police, in the upper reaches of the Dachigam National Park near the Mahadev Peak in Harwan area of Srinagar, were all Pakistani nationals belonging to the LeT.

The trio included Suleiman Shah, identified as the mastermind of the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgram. Security sources have confirmed that he was among the three terrorists killed in the encounter.

“Today's operation, named Operation Mahadev, neutralised three terrorists - Suleiman, Abu Hamza, and Jabran. Jabran, too, is believed to be among the Pahalgam killers," an official said, adding Security forces from the

“Suleiman served in the Pakistan Army and was also known as Hashim Moosa. In the aftermath of the terror attack at Pahalgam's Baisaran Valley, J&K Police had announced a Rs 20 lakh reward on anyone providing information about Suleiman," an official said.

"The three terrorists were killed in an intense gunfight after an anti-terrorist operation was launched by the security forces in the Dachigam National Park following intelligence inputs. Reinforcements were rushed to the spot as the area is densely populated and the terrain under operation is tough," the official said.

The Indian Army, J&K Police, and other security forces have been launching aggressive anti-terrorist operations across the area targeting terrorists, Over Ground Workers (OGWs) and sympathisers of terrorism in order to totally dismantle the ecosystem of terror in the UT.

The focus previously used to be merely on the elimination of terrorists, but since 2019, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha has given an elaborate and extensive narrative and objective to anti-terrorist operations by speaking of the terror ecosystem and bringing it into focus.

The concept of security has since undergone a sea-change as the entire gamut of anti-nationalist operatives, whether armed or not, has been brought under the anti-terrorist operations. After the April 22 terror attack by Pakistan-backed LeT terrorists in Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam, in which 26 people were killed, the anti-terrorist operations have been using cutting-edge technology, backed up with human Intelligence to defeat the nefarious designs of the terrorists.

The heinous Pahalgam terrorist attack outraged the entire country, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the armed forces a free hand to avenge the Pahalgam attack.

Indian armed forces carried out target-specific strikes against terror infrastructure deep inside Pakistan, destroying nine terror bases.

However, Pakistan retaliated by targeting military and civilian facilities, destroying scores of homes and other private property and religious places, including a temple, a gurdwara and a church in Poonch district of Jammu division. In the resultant escalation, 18 defence bases of the Pakistan armed forces were damaged.

- IANS