New Delhi : After three months and six days, the security forces hunted down the mastermind of a terrorist attack in which 26 civilians were shot dead in the Baisaran valley of Pahalgam on April 22. Suleiman Shah, a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist, is a former commando of the Pakistan Army’s elite unit – Special Service Group (SSG). He later joined UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed’s LeT to carry out terror activities.
In a joint operation of the Army, CRPF and the Jammu and Kashmir Police, Operation Mahadev was launched earlier this morning to track, corner and hunt down the terrorists. The killing of Suleiman in the operation is being viewed as a major success for the forces. After the Pahalgam attack, the Jammu and Kashmir Police had announced a Rs 20 lakh reward for anyone providing information about Suleiman.
Suleiman infiltrated India in September 2023 and started terror operations in South Kashmir. In October 2024, he led an attack in which seven civilians were killed when terrorists opened fire on a camp housing workers of a private company who were building a tunnel. All the terrorists, it is learnt, were “high-value” targets and foreign nationals. According to reports, the security forces acted on an intelligence input and launched the operation in the Mulnar area of Harwan. Reinforcements have been rushed to the area, and a combing exercise is on.
The security forces were keeping a physical and electronic surveillance. The forces got a clue about a Chinese ultra radio communication being active, after which the operation was carried out. The Lashkar-e-Taiba uses the Chinese radio for encrypted messages, and in 2016, it was also called WY SMS.
On the intervening night of May 6 and 7, India carried out precision strikes around 1 am on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam attack. India struck bases in Pakistan and PoK from where terrorist attacks were being planned and executed. Nine sites were targeted in the strikes under the codename ‘Operation Sindoor’ – an ode to the women who lost their husbands in the Pahalgam attack.