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Security agencies have uncovered evidence that the three foreign terrorists killed in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack were citizens of Pakistan. The agencies have several proofs, including documents issued by the government of Pakistan and biometric data, which confirms their identity.

The men, identified as senior Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives, were neutralised on the outskirts of Srinagar during ‘Operation Mahadev’. Their movement were traced back to the Dachigam-Harwan forest belt, where the militants had lain low following the brutal assault on Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam on April 22, which claimed 26 lives.

Officials told news agency PTI said that the evidence collected by them conclusively established their Pakistani identity. So far the agencies have recovered biometric data from Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), laminated voter slips, digital satellite phone data, and GPS logs, from the slain terrorists. The involvement of any local residents among the attackers has been ruled out.

“For the first time, we have government-issued Pakistani documents that prove the nationality of the Pahalgam attackers beyond doubt,” a senior official said.

Voter Slips, Satellite Phones: Trail Of Evidence Points To Pakistan

The slain terrorists were identified as Suleman Shah alias "Faizal Jatt", an A++ category terrorist, who was the mastermind and lead shooter. The second terrorist was his close associate Abu Hamza alias 'Afghan',who was an A-grade commander and the second gunman. The third terrorist was identified as Yasir alias 'Jibran', also an A-grade commander and the third gunman, officials told PTI.

Among the materials recovered were two laminated voter slips, traced to the Election Commission of Pakistan. These slips were tied to voter rolls from Lahore (NA-125) and Gujranwala (NA-79) and were found on two of the slain men, Shah and Hamza, respectively.

Investigators also found a micro-SD card from a damaged satellite phone. It contained high-level biometric information, including, fingerprints, facial scans, and familial records linked to NADRA’s Smart-ID database. These details further pinpointed the suspects’ addresses to Changa Manga (Kasur district) and Koiyan village near Rawalakot in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Additional items found at the scene included Pakistani-made goods such as ‘CandyLand’ and ‘ChocoMax’ chocolates. The wrappers’ lot numbers matched a consignment sent to Muzaffarabad, PoK, as recently as May 2024.

Ballistic experts established that 7.62x39 mm cartridge cases from the Baisaran site matched the AK-103 rifles confiscated after the July 28 shootout. Furthermore, DNA tests linked bloodstains on a shredded shirt to the mitochondrial profiles of the slain terrorists.

GPS Logs, Audio Tapes Expose Pakistan-Based Command Network

According to officials, the trio had infiltarted into India through the Gurez sector in Kashmir back in May 2022, with intelligence intercepts tracking their initial radio transmissions from the Pakistani side. 

On April 21, the group sought refuge in a seasonal hut near Hill Park, just two kilometers from Baisaran. Two detained locals, Parvaiz and Bashir Ahmad Jothar, later admitted to providing food and shelter before the attackers went on to perpetrate the massacre.

GPS coordinates from a Garmin device owned by Shah aligned with eyewitness accounts, mapping out the terrorists' firing positions during the attack. After the assault, the terrorists retreated deep into the Dachigam forest, evading authorities until their final confrontation.

Officials also tracked a Huawei satellite phone (IMEI 86761204-XXXXXX) regularly connecting to the Inmarsat-4 F1 satellite throughout the period of hiding between April 22 and July 25, allowing security teams to zero in on their location within a four-square-kilometre area in the Harwan forest.

Initial sketches of suspects—Hashim Musa, Ali Bhai also known as “Talha”, and local resident Adil Hussain Thoker—had been released by police on April 24. Subsequent investigation, however, revealed these images were based on photographs from a separate incident in December 2024.

Further probe traced command-and-control links directly to Pakistan. Officials identified Sajid Saifullah Jatt, LeT’s south Kashmir operations chief from Changa Manga, Lahore, as the ringleader, with his voice authenticated in recordings found on the satellite phone.

In the aftermath of the July 28 encounter, LeT’s Rawalakot chief, Rizwan Anees, was reportedly seen visiting the families of the deceased and leading funeral prayers in absentia (Ghaibana Namaz-e-Janaza) on July 29. Video evidence of this gathering has now been incorporated into India’s official dossier on the case, adding yet another layer to the mounting case file.

(With inputs from news agency PTI.)