New Delhi, July 29: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, addressing Parliament on Tuesday, confirmed that the rifles recovered from the three terrorists killed in the recent Dachigam encounter were the very weapons used in the heinous Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed the lives of 26 civilians.
“Ballistic analysis of the recovered rifles and cartridge casings has conclusively established their use in the Pahalgam massacre,” Shah stated. The Home Minister revealed that forensic testing of the cartridge casings recovered from the Pahalgam attack site had been conducted in advance. Following the neutralisation of the terrorists in the Dachigam forest range, the seized M9 American rifles were matched with those casings, providing irrefutable evidence of their involvement.
Shah further informed the House that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had previously apprehended individuals accused of sheltering the terrorists. When the bodies of the slain militants were brought to Srinagar, the arrested individuals were brought in to identify them. All three terrorists were positively identified on the spot.
Operation Mahadev: Timeline of the Response
Providing a detailed account of the counter-terror operation, Shah said Operation Mahadev was initiated on May 22, 2025, following the Pahalgam attack. “The attack took place around 1 PM. I arrived in Srinagar by 5:30 PM the same day,” he said, noting that a high-level security meeting was convened immediately thereafter.
That same evening, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) received actionable human intelligence pointing to the terrorists' presence within the Dachigam forest range. “A decision was taken that night — the perpetrators would not be allowed to flee across the border to Pakistan under any circumstances,” Shah emphasized.
Security forces swiftly mobilised to seal off escape routes and monitor the suspects’ movements using a combination of ground intelligence and technical surveillance.
Terrorists Identified
The operation culminated in the killing of three top operatives of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, identified as Suleman alias Hashim Musa — believed to be the mastermind of the Pahalgam attack — along with Jibran and Hamza Afghani. Their location and movements had been meticulously tracked over the course of a month-long pursuit using coordinated intelligence inputs.
The Home Minister praised the efforts of the security forces and intelligence agencies for their precision and determination in bringing the perpetrators to justice.
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