2 satellite phone signals 17 days apart, help from nomads, and a peak named Mahadev – inside the operation that killed 3 Pahalgam terrorists

Indian Express

29-07-2025

It was the detection of a signal emitted from a Chinese satellite phone used by the Pahalgam attackers on Saturday – the second time in the last 17 days – that led the Army and the Jammu and Kashmir Police to them on Mulnar Peak near Lidwas Meadow of Mahadev Peak, a strategically important location in Zabarwan range, Dachigam forests, on the outskirts of Srinagar town.
The satellite phone was among various items, including arms, ammunition and explosives, later seized from the slain terrorists, who Home Minister Amit Shah said are the same as the ones who killed 26 civilians on April 22.
According to highly placed sources, the men had also used the satellite phone on July 11 in the Baisaran area. Since then, multiple teams of the Army and the police had been looking for them, even during the night, which forced them to keep changing their locations.
On Saturday, when security forces and the police detected the satellite phone signal from the Mahadev Peak area, they immediately launched what security agencies would later call Op Mahadev. The signal was tracked to the Dachigam area, which has the nearest human habitation nearly 30 kilometres away at Chak Dara.
While Baisaran in Anantnag district and Dachigam forests in Srinagar are nearly 120 kilometres away by road, their distance through the forest is around 40-50 kilometres, with Aru Wildlife Sanctuary falling in between.
In a meticulously planned and swift operation, security forces and the police, based on information provided by local nomads about the area, took on the terrorists who were caught unawares, resting under a makeshift tent around 11.30 am Monday, sources said.
The ensuing fierce gunfight lasted nearly three hours, and the Army and police managed to kill all three men – top Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Suleiman Shah, who had undergone training at LeT's Muridkee terror headquarters, Hamza Afghani and Jibran, all Pakistani nationals.
Jibran, sources said, was also involved in the killing of six people working on the construction of Z-Morh tunnel at Gaganeer on the Srinagar-Leh national highway in Ganderbal district in October last year.
Fully aware that the terrorists are likely high-value targets, authorities took their time to confirm their identities. For this, they checked with family members of those killed in Pahalgam's Baisaran Valley on April 22, as well as two jailed locals – Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar and Bashir Ahmad Jothar – who allegedly harboured the terrorists at their seasonal dhok at Hill Park area.
Shah also detailed how their identities were confirmed: 'Yesterday's operation saw the death of three who killed our citizens… NIA had kept those who helped these terrorists in custody, and they confirmed that these three were the ones who conducted the terror attack in Pahalgam. We didn't believe this either. Cartridges recovered at the site of attack were analysed, and a ballistic report was prepared. Three rifles were recovered yesterday – one M9 American rifle and two AK-47s. These rifles were sent to Chandigarh, and the cartridges were matched. Then, it was fixed that these three rifles were used to kill our people.'