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 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.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.
Northern Commander Lt Gen Pratik Sharma complimented the forces for the swift and precise execution of the terrorists in operation Mahadev.
Pakistani terrorist named Suleman Musa is believed to be among the three killed foreign terrorists. If confirmed, this is seen as a big achievement for the forces as he is believed to be the key architect of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. The Jammu and Kashmir Police had released sketches of Suleman and two other terrorists, Adil Bhai alias Talha Bhai of Pakistan and a local, Adil Hussain Thoker, after the attack.The operation was launched early morning based on inputs about the presence of terrorists in Lidwas meadow, which falls in the upper belt of Dachigam National Park in Srinagar.
“OP MAHADEV – Contact established in General Area Lidwas. Operation in progress,” Srinagar-based Chinar Corps of the Army posted on its X handle.
The Srinagar operation comes over three months after the April 22 Pahalgam attack in which Pakistan-based terrorists killed 26 civilians, including 25 tourists. The brazen attack brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war as India responded with Operation Sindoor, under which India targeted nine terror hubs, including those of LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) inside Pakistan, 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 killing seven employees of a construction firm at the Z-Morh tunnel near Sonamarg on October 20.
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