July 30, 2025: A midnight flight to Chandigarh to run ballistics tests on the arms seized from three terrorists killed in Dachigam, Srinagar, on July 28 and an early morning confirmation from scientists, all within a span of 24 hours, helped confirm their involvement in the Pahalgam attack, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told Parliament on Tuesday.
During his participation in the Lok Sabha's discussion of Operation Sindoor, Shah disclosed that "Operation Mahadev," which was launched on Monday by the Army, CRPF, and Jammu and Kashmir Police, resulted in the deaths of three terrorists: Sulaiman, Afghani, and Jibran. According to the minister, Sulaiman was a high-ranking Lashkar commander and had been implicated in the Pahalgam attack, which resulted in the deaths of 26 people. Jibran and Afghan were also "A-listed" terrorists. “I want to tell Parliament and the nation that those who murdered our citizens in the Baisaran valley, these three were among them and they were killed,” he said, congratulating the security personnel on their success.
Shah said he landed in Srinagar hours after the Pahalgam attack and chaired a security meeting. “We ensured that the terrorists could not escape to Pakistan,” he said.
Explaining how the government confirmed that the three slain terrorists were involved in the Pahalgam attack, he said: “The NIA had earlier arrested those who had sheltered these terrorists. When their bodies were brought to Srinagar, we got them to identify the bodies.”
Shah stated that forensic reports of bullet shells recovered from the site of the attack were utilized to ensure that these were the Pahalgam attackers for a second time. “After these terrorists were killed, their rifles were seized. The remaining two were AK-47s, while one was an M9. A special plane transported these rifles to the Chandigarh CFSL. By firing these rifles, we produced empty bullet shells that we compared to those found in Pahalgam. It was then confirmed that these three rifles were used to murder our innocent civilians,” Shah said.