NIA to examine three terrorists' bodies for clues on Pahalgam terror attack

Hindustan Times

7 days ago

A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team will examine the bodies of three Pakistani terrorists killed in Operation Mahadev in Dachigam on Monday as well as the electronic devices and weapons recovered from them before the burial, people familiar with the development said on Tuesday. The bodies of three 'foreign terrorists' have already been sent on Monday night to a mortuary in Srinagar. (HT file photo)
The federal agency is investigating the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack and it is suspected that Suleiman Shah, a former Pakistan army commando killed on Monday, was one of the shooters.
An officer who didn't want to be named said the bodies of three 'foreign terrorists' have already been sent on Monday night to a mortuary in Srinagar, 'where a NIA team along with forensic experts will examine them'.
'Their electronic devices will also be sent for analysis while the weapons will be tested by ballistics for matching with cartridge cases recovered at the Pahalgam attack site,' this officer said.
Thereafter, the bodies will be sent for burial at a location already decided, he said.
Investigators believe that electronic devices recovered from three terrorists could help solve the Pahalgam case.
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In the February 2019 Pulwama terror attack as well, the NIA got its first clue several months later from the mobile phone of Maulana Masood Azhar's nephew Mohammad Umar Farooq, who had been killed in an encounter on March 29, 2019.
The agency retrieved numerous photos, videos and conversations from Farooq's phone regarding his journey from Pakistan to India through border, bomb making, and photos of other accomplices.
Farooq had also saved all his conversations including WhatsApp messages with Jaish-e-Mohammad leadership – primarily his uncles Abdul Rouf Asghar and Ammar Alvi in Pakistan and other operatives from the valley.
Based on this evidence, NIA filed a charge sheet in Pulwama attack naming Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his younger brothers - Abdul Rouf Asghar Alvi and Ammar Alvi, his nephew Mohammad Umar Farooq, and 15 others who carried out the bombing at Pakistan's behest.
A second officer cited above said 'there are chances that electronic devices recovered on Monday will give clues in Pahalgam attack'.
As reported by HT on Tuesday, intelligence agencies intercepted a 'suspicious communication' on July 11 in an area near Dachigam National Park in Jammu & Kashmir following which Operation Mahadev was launched and three terrorists were eliminated.
The intercept suggested that the user of the communication device from which the signal originated had some links with the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack.
The Resistance Front, a proxy group for the banned LeT organisation, claimed responsibility for the attack. Indian agencies say the group is a front used by Pakistan to avoid international sanctions.
India responded to the Pahalgam attack with Operation Sindoor on May 7, bombing nine terrorist camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in pre-dawn strikes that killed at least 100 militants.
The operation sparked four days of cross-border fighting involving fighter jets, missiles, and artillery.
On the intervening night of May 9 and 10, the Indian Air Force (IAF) struck targets at 13 Pakistani airbases and military installations before hostilities ended on May 10.