Pahalgam attackers infiltrated a year ago; cut through a fence at Samba-Kathua: Report
Security personnel conduct a cordon and search operation as a security measure after the recent Pahalgam terror attack, in Anantnag | PTI
As India continues anti-terror operations in Jammu & Kashmir, it has emerged that the two terrorists who opened fire at tourists in Pahalgam infiltrated into the country over a year ago. They are said to have sneaked in via the Samba-Kathua region by cutting through the fence, according to a report.
Indian authorities have identified the terrorists as Ali Bhai alias Talha and Hashim Musa alias Suleiman, who anti-terror officials suspect was a former Pakistani para-commando.
Authorities were reportedly aware of the infiltration and had been investigating this following a terror incident in the valley, according to The Indian Express. The terrorists are reportedly hiding in the upper reaches of Anantnag and the police are using technical and local tribal inputs to help the manhunt, the report added.
Former paratrooper?
Police believe Hashim Musa, one of the suspects, was a para commando in Pakistan’s special forces and had received advanced military training, which could have aided him in evading the police after firing at the tourists.
This theory is strengthened by the fact that Musa was said to have used M4 rifles in Pahalgam, which requires training. He is now a senior member of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the mission could have been assigned to him by Pakistan’s Special Service Group (SSG)-an elite military unit-may have assigned Musa to LeT for this mission.
He is also said to have had a role in the Z-morh tunnel attack in Sonmarg last year which killed seven people. Musa's presence at Pahalgam was confirmed by the police using eyewitness accounts and video footage. A phone recovered from another LeT terrorist Junaid Ahmed Bhat, who was killed last December, too helped police identify Musa. In Bhat's phone, there were photographs of Musa along with other terrorists.
Besides Ali Bhai and Musa, the police have also identified local Lashkar-e-Taiba recruit Adil Hussain Thoker as the third Pahalgam attacker. A private school teacher, Thoker was a resident of Anantnag who went to Pakistan on a student visa in 2018. He joined the LeT terror camp, returning to India a year and a half ago.
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