Gunmen behind Kashmir terror attack killed in raid, says India
Amit Shah, India's home affairs minister, told parliament that three 'terrorists' were eliminated in a joint police-army operation near the disputed city of Srinagar.
He claimed the attackers were Pakistani nationals – a charge Islamabad denies – and said their identities were confirmed through forensic and ballistic tests.
'I want to inform the House about the elimination of three terrorists in a joint operation by the Indian Army, CRPF [Central Reserve Police Force], and Jammu and Kashmir Police in Dachigam, Kashmir, yesterday,' Mr Shah told MPs.
He named the three as Suleman, Hamza Afghani and Zibran and said they were involved in the killing of 'our innocent civilians in Baisaran Valley' near Pahalgam.
'We had ensured that the terrorists responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack could not flee to Pakistan,' Mr Shah said, claiming that two of them were members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a UN-designated Islamist terrorist organisation based in Pakistan.
India's opposition leaders have accused the government of 'severe security lapses' and questioned why it has taken this much time to catch the attackers.
On April 22, 26 people were killed when gunmen emerged from the forests near Pahalgam and opened fire with automatic weapons. Most of the dead were Hindu tourists, with one from Nepal.
Survivors said the attackers separated the men from the women and children, and ordered some of the men to recite the Muslim declaration of faith.
A group calling itself The Resistance Front (TRF) initially claimed responsibility, before later retracting its statement. Earlier this month, the US designated the TRF as a 'front and proxy' for LeT.
India said Pakistan had supported the attackers, an accusation Islamabad refuted.
The massacre sparked a short conflict between the nuclear-armed states. Between May 7 and a US-brokered ceasefire on May 10, both sides fired missiles and drones into each other's territories, killing more than 70 people.
Pakistan claimed it shot down six Indian warplanes including three French-made Rafale jets, which India has not yet confirmed.
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