Pahalgam attack: NIA confirms killers are Pakistan nationals
The arrest of two Kashmiri locals for allegedly harbouring terrorists who carried out the April 22 Pahalgam attack has led the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to conclude that all three attackers were from Pakistan.
According to the agency, the terrorists visited the homes of Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar from Batkote, Pahalgam, and Bashir Ahmad Jothar from Hill Park, Pahalgam, and took food from them. “During questioning, they have disclosed the identities of the three armed terrorists involved in the attack, and have also confirmed that they were Pakistani nationals affiliated to the proscribed terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba,” a NIA spokesperson said.
The breakthrough is a departure from what was previously believed about the identities of the attackers. Two days after the April 22 Pahalgam attack, the Jammu and Kashmir police had released three sketches – Pakistan nationals Hashim Musa and Ali Bhai alias Talha, and Kashmir local Adil Hussain Thoker. Sources in the central agency now say the three men in the sketches are not the Pahalgam attackers.
Sources said one of the attackers is believed to be Suleiman Shah, who was involved in the killing of seven employees of a firm constructing the Z-Morh tunnel on the Srinagar-Sonamarg highway on October 20 last year. His co-accused from the attack, Junaid Ramzan Bhat, was killed on December 4 in a gunfight with the J&K police.
From his phone, police had recovered a photo of Junaid along with three other militants. This photo went viral after the April 22 Pahalgam attack and, sources said, was used by the J&K as the basis for the sketches.
During the investigation, the central agencies and the NIA showed different pictures recovered from Junaid’s phone to the two arrested locals, who recognised the men who had visited them two days before the Pahalgam attack.