How bullet-matching confirmed M-9, AK-47s used in Pahalgam massacre

India Today

29-07-2025

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday told the Lok Sabha how forensic evidence was used to conclusively link the three terrorists killed in Operation Mahadev on Monday near Srinagar's Mahadev Hills to the brutal terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22. Bullet cases from the Pahalgam massacre site matched those fired from the guns recovered from the trio, and tested at a forensic laboratory in Chandigarh, revealed Shah.advertisementThe Home Minister said that the bullets fired from the recovered weapons on Monday after the three were killed in Operation Mahadev — one M-9 American rifle and two AK-47s — matched the spent cartridges collected at the massacre site in Pahalgam, where civilians were killed after being segregated on the basis of their religion."There's no room for doubt. I have the ballistic report in my hand, verified and signed by six top scientists. At 4:46 AM, I received a video call confirming a 100% match between the bullets fired at the site and the rifles recovered during the operation," Shah said in Parliament.PAHALGAM ATTACK: OVERNIGHT BALLISTIC TEST OF GUNS
The spent cartridges from the Pahalgam attack site had earlier been sent to a forensic lab in Chandigarh.After the rifles were recovered from the terrorists killed in Operation Mahadev, a special aircraft on Monday transported them overnight to the same lab. A test-firing was conducted, and the bullets matched, which confirmed the weapons were used in the April 22 attack.The Home Minister also outlined the timeline of Operation Mahadev, a joint counter-terror operation by the Army, CRPF, and Jammu and Kashmir Police. The mission culminated on Monday with the killing of three top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives — Suleman alias Faisal Jatt, Afghan, and Jibran — in the Dachigam forest area.Suleman, Shah added, was directly involved in both the Pahalgam and Gagangir attack of 2024.IB GOT INTEL ON PAHALGAM TERRORISTS ON MAY 22: SHAH"Preparations for Operation Mahadev began immediately after the Pahalgam massacre. By 5:30 AM the next morning, I was in Srinagar. A high-level meeting was held at 1 AM, and a joint security review followed on April 23 with the Army, CRPF, BSF, and J&K Police to ensure no escape route remained for the terrorists," he said.According to Shah, the Intelligence Bureau received credible human intelligence on May 22 about the presence of terrorists in Dachigam. For over two months, agencies tracked the suspects using a mix of human sources, signal intelligence, and advanced sensors. The final confirmation came on July 22, prompting a joint operation led by the Army's 4 PARA unit with CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir Police on Monday, July 28.After the three terrorists were neutralised, human informants, the same people who had once offered them food and shelter, confirmed their identities when the dead bodies were brought to Srinagar on Monday. The ballistic match between recovered weapons and cartridges from the scene sealed the case.advertisementCalling it a "brutal killing of civilians" based on religion, Amit Shah condemned the Pahalgam attack, offered condolences to the families of the victims, and reaffirmed the government's zero-tolerance approach to terrorism.The Pahalgam attack on April 22, was a gruesome act of terror by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists that shook India. Civilians were brutally targeted based on their religion.Operation Sindoor, launched in response to the attack, Indian forces hit terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The Operation Mahadev, a meticulously planned joint mission by the Army, CRPF, and J&K Police, culminated in the neutralisation of the three Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists responsible.There were questions as to how it was confirmed that the three terrorists killed on Monday near Mahadev Hills were the ones behind the Pahalgam massacre. The ballistic tests prove conclusively that the trio were the perpetrators of the Pahalgam terror, according to Shah.- EndsTune InMust Watch