Security forces today achieved a major success when they shot dead three terrorists, one of them suspected to be an alleged mastermind behind the Baisaran Pahalgam attack, in a gun battle in the upper reaches of Dachigam on Srinagar outskirts, top sources said.
The forces achieved the success on a day when a debate on Operation Sindoor began in Parliament.
While the encounter is being termed a major success, officials have yet to confirm the identities of the three slain terrorists.
Official sources said the one of those killed is a Pakistani terrorist of Lashakr-e-Taiba Suleiman Shah alias Hashim Musa, the alleged mastermind behind the April 22 Pahalgam attack that left 25 tourists and a local dead and brought India and Pakistan on the brink of a full-fledged war.
After the Pahalgam’s Baisaran attack, the Jammu and Kashmir Police had announced a Rs 20 lakh reward on anyone providing information about Suleiman, and two others.
Two other terrorists were also killed in today’s operation in the Harwan area which was named by the Army as Operation Mahadev.
The encounter erupted this morning when joint teams of forces launched a combing operation in the area following an input that terrorists behind the Pahalgam attack might have moved towards the Dachigam area.
The Army’s Srinagar-based Chinar Corps said three terrorists have been neutralised in an intense firefight.
Security forces have recovered a M4 and AK-47 rifles, grenades and other arms and ammunition during the encounter.
