On July 28, 2025, Union Home Minister Amit Shah informed the Lok Sabha that three terrorists killed during Operation Mahadev were confirmed to be responsible for the April 22 attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baisaran Valley, Pahalgam. The operation, conducted jointly by the Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Jammu and Kashmir Police, targeted militants linked to the earlier assault.

“Security forces went to great lengths to establish that the identities of the terrorists matched those involved in the Pahalgam attack,” Shah stated during the second day of a 16-hour Lok Sabha debate on Operation Sindoor, which addressed India’s response to Pakistan’s terror infrastructure following the Pahalgam incident. The discussion marked the second week of the Monsoon session of Parliament.

The Army’s Chinar Corps announced the operation’s success in a post on X at 1:32 PM on July 28, stating: “Op Mahadev update: Three terrorists have been neutralized in an intense firefight. Operation continues.”

Shah sharply criticized the opposition, particularly the Congress, for demanding proof of the terrorists’ origins in Pakistan. He specifically rebuked former Home Minister P. Chidambaram for alleging that the government had given Pakistan “a clean chit.”

The Home Minister identified the slain terrorists, naming Suleiman Shah, a ‘Category A’ Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander, as a key figure in the Pahalgam attack. Suleiman was also implicated in the killing of seven employees of a firm constructing the Z-Morh tunnel on the Srinagar-Sonamarg highway on October 20, 2024. The other two terrorists, identified as Afghan and Jibran, were also classified as Grade A terrorists.

The successful operation underscores India’s ongoing efforts to combat terrorism in the region, with security forces demonstrating precision in targeting high-value threats linked to cross-border militancy.