Shadow Correspondent
Srinagar, july 28:
Three terrorists were killed in an “intense” gunfight with security forces in the Dachigam forest range of Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, on Monday, the Indian Army said. The forest range connects with south Kashmir, and the terrorists are believed to be hailing from Lashkar-e-Toiba’s (LeT) offshoot, The Resistance Front (TRF).
The TRF, accused of carrying out the Pahalgam terror attack in which 25 tourists and a pony operator were killed on April 22, was designated by the United States (US) as a terror outfit early this month.
A statement from the Army’s Chinar Corps, which guards the borders along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, confirmed killing three terrorists in the operation. “OP MAHADEV Update: Three terrorist have been neutralised in an intense firefight. Operation Continues (sic),” the Army’s Chinar Corps posted on X.
The operation was launched by forces early this morning based on inputs about the presence of terrorists in Lidwas meadow, which falls in the upper belt of Dachigam National Park in Harwan, Srinagar.
Northern Army Command chief Lieutenant General Pratik Sharma complimented the forces for the swift and precise execution of the terrorists in ‘Operation Mahadev’.
Officials said the bodies of the terrorists have been recovered, with US-made carbines and AK-47 rifles alongside ammunition and other material recovered from the spot. However, the identity of the trio was not disclosed at the time of filing this report.
Suleman Musa, a Pakistani terrorist, is thought to have been one of the three foreign terrorists killed. If confirmed, this would be seen as a big achievement for the forces, as he is believed to be the key architect of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
Earlier, the Jammu and Kashmir Police had released sketches
Pahalgam Attack
of Suleman and two other terrorists, Adil Bhai alias Talha Bhai of Pakistan and a local, Adil Hussain Thoker, after the attack. The Srinagar operation comes over
three months after the Pahalgam attack, which brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war as India responded with Operation Sindoor, under which nine terror hubs, including those of LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) inside Pakistan were targeted, resulting in a four-day intense military confrontation between the two nuclear-armed countries, until a ceasefire was announced by US President Donald Trump on May 10.
The security agencies had suspected the same group’s footprints in multiple attacks from Jammu’s Poonch to Kashmir’s Gulmarg since 2023, suggesting the terrorists could have been walking surreptitiously through the woods and are adept at jungle warfare, including Dachigam.
Four soldiers were killed in Dera Ki Gali in December 2023, followed by the killing of six construction workers and a doctor working at a tunnel site in Sonamarg’s Gagangir in October 2024. In the same month, two army soldiers and two porters were killed in Gulmarg Heights.
In December last year, a joint operation by the army alongside J&K Police was launched in the upper reaches of Dachigam, killing one member of the group, Junaid Ramzan, who was a commander of Lashkar. He was involved in the killing of seven employees of a construction firm at the Z-Morh tunnel near Sonamarg on October 20.
Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Zone) Vidhi Kumar Birdi said on Monday that the identification of the three terrorists killed in ‘Operation Mahadev’ near Dachigam National Park in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar is in process and will take some time.The three terrorists were killed in an intense firefight with security forces in the Harwan area near Dachigam National Park of Srinagar on Monday morning.He said that the operation in the Harwan is still ongoing.
“Operation is still continuing. As per the interior reports, three bodies have been observed and seem to be neutralised. It will take us some time for identification, and parties are still inside,” IGP Birdi told mediapersons.The three terrorists were killed in an intense firefight with security forces in the Harwan area near Dachigam National Park of Srinagar on Monday morning.The anti-terror Operation Mahadev took place in the general area of Lidwas, the Chinar Corps of the Indian Army said.”OP MAHADEV – Contact established in General Area Lidwas. Operation in progress,” the Chinar Corp said in a post on X.
