Pahalgam Attack: NIA Teams Meet Eyewitnesses As Hunt For Terrorists Intensifies

Srinagar, Apr 25 (PTI) Special teams of the NIA have started reaching out to eyewitnesses including tourists who survived the deadly attack by terrorists of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in south Kashmir's Pahalgam, officials said on Friday.

Armed with the latest gadgets like Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and drones, Jammu and Kashmir Police, Army and paramilitary forces continued their massive operations to hunt down the terrorists in the dense jungles of the Pir Panjal range, overlooking Pahalgam and the Jammu-Srinagar national highway.

Initial investigations into the audacious terror attack, which claimed the lives of 26 people on April 22, indicate that the number of terrorists involved could range from five to seven. They were aided by at least two local militants who received training in Pakistan, the officials said.

Even though the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is yet to take over the case, its teams have started speaking to the survivors in search of clues which could help in pinning down the terrorists whose attack has sparked widespread outrage and spontaneous protests in the Valley -- a never-seen-before development in the over three-decade-long history of terrorism in the region.

The teams started reaching out to eyewitnesses on Tuesday, the officials said.

Intensified operations by police, Army and CRPF have led to a few encounters in south and north Kashmir over the last couple of days and the elimination of top LeT commander Altaf Lalli in Bandipora district on Friday, they said.

A hideout was also busted in Kulgam the day before and dozens of suspected persons were detained, they added.

According to the officials, based on the piecing together of the available evidence, the roles of prime suspect Aadil Thokar alias Aadil Guree of Bijbehara and Asif Sheikh of Tral have emerged.

The officials believe that Thokar crossed over to Pakistan in 2018, where he underwent armed training with the banned LeT before returning to India to carry out attacks.

The houses of the two terrorists were destroyed when explosives believed to be stored there went off, they said.

Explosives were believed to have been found on the premises during a search operation, prompting the security forces to evacuate the occupants of the houses as well as neighbours to safety, the officials claimed.

While Thokar, a resident of south Kashmir's Anantnag district, is one of the key accused in the Pahalgam attack, Sheikh, a resident of Tral in Pulwama district, is suspected to have been involved in the conspiracy of the attack.

The family members of both Thokar and Sheikh have claimed that they are not aware of their whereabouts.

The probe suggests that four terrorists lined up the tourists at the Baisaran meadow on Tuesday before firing at them from a point-blank range and at least one to three terrorists were strategically positioned to keep watch for any approaching security forces.

The terrorists were carrying body cameras to record their barbaric act, the officials said, quoting eyewitnesses.

At least six to seven pictures were shown to eyewitnesses and out of them, they identified Thokar as the terrorist who pulled the trigger during the attack. After the incident, the terrorists vanished into the thick pine tree jungles of Pir Panjal, the officials said.

Security agencies have also released the sketches of three men suspected to be involved in the terror attack. The men, all Pakistanis, are Asif Fauji, Suleman Shah and Abu Talha, the officials said.

They used code names -- Moosa, Yunus and Asif -- and were involved in terror-related incidents in Poonch.

Police have announced a reward of Rs 20 lakh each for information leading to the neutralisation of the terrorists.

Security forces are also on high alert after inputs suggested that terrorists are "actively planning" an attack on vulnerable railway infrastructure, Kashmiri Pandits and non-locals working in the Valley in the coming days, the officials said.

The Railway security personnel, who frequently move outside their barracks in local markets, have been asked to refrain from doing so as this may increase their "vulnerability", they said.

A warning has also been issued that Pakistan's espionage agency ISI is planning to execute targeted attacks on Kashmir Pandits and police personnel in Srinagar and Ganderbal districts, they added.

The officials said a massive anti-terrorist operation is also continuing inside the dense forests near the attack site with security agencies mobilising UAVs, drones and sniffer dogs to nab the perpetrators.

There has been no contact with the fleeing terrorists so far, they said. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)

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