Army kills 3 terrorists in J&K encounter, officials confirm Pahalgam mastermind dead

After the Indian Army on Monday announced the killing of three terrorists in the Lidwas area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar, officials told news agency PTI later in the day that one of those killed was Sulieman alias Asif, the alleged mastermind of the Pahalgam attack.

Sulieman is believed to be a former Pakistani army commando who joined Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

On April 22, terrorists killed 26 people at J&K’s Pahalgam in the worst act of terror in India in many years. The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the LeT, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The PTI reported that Para Special Forces (SF) personnel of the Army killed these killed these three terrorists. It said that the operation was based on signal intelligence emanating from the use of a satellite phone in the area linked to the terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack.

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Even as the PTI has reported anonymous officials as confirming the identity of one of the three terrorists as Sulieman, the Army or Jammu and Kashmir Police have not formally made any announcement. The Army or police have also not held any press briefing. No official has said anything on the record about the identity of any of the three people killed today.

Formally, VK Birdi, the Inspector General of Police for Kashmir Range, has said that the process of identification is ongoing and will take time.

“The operation is ongoing. There was an exchange of fire. As per reports, three bodies have been observed. Can’t say more right now. We will take some time for clarity, identification, can’t say anything. We will let you know at right time,” said Birdi, according to CNN-News 18.

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Earlier in the day, the Army said in a brief statement on X that the activity in Lidwas was named ‘Operation Mahadev’.

OP MAHADEV - Update

Three terrorist have been neutralised in an intense firefight. Operation Continues.#Kashmir@adgpi@NorthernComd_IA pic.twitter.com/5LToapGKuf

— Chinar Corps🍁 - Indian Army (@ChinarcorpsIA) July 28, 2025

Separately, earlier in the day, CNN-News 18 reported top intelligence sources as confirming that all three terrorists killed were foreign nationals affiliated with the Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Sources added that their killing was the result of a month-long intelligence-based operation.

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Beside Sulieman alias Asif, the news agency PTI reported officials as saying that the other two terrorists killed are Jibran, who was allegedly involved in the Sonamarg Tunnel attack last year, and Hamza Afghani. Seven people were killed in the Sonamarg Tunnel attack.

As with the case of Sulieman alias Asif, no official has formally confirmed Jibran or Hamza’s identity.

The news agency further reported that the Army handed over the bodies of three terrorists to J&K Police that helped in the identification of bodies.

The news agency said that the operation began at around 11:30 am when a party of personnel from the Army’s 24 Rashtriya Rifles and 4 Para SFhad detected the group of three terrorists.

Earlier in the day, the CNN-News 18 had reported that, to ascertain the identities of those killed, photographs of those killed will be immediately shown to the two men arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for harbouring terrorists who carried out the Pahalgam attack.