Pahalgam Mastermind Suleiman Shah Was Ex Commando Of Pak Army's Elite Unit

After three months and six days, the security forces hunted down the mastermind of a terrorist attack in which 26 civilians were shot dead in the Baisaran valley of Pahalgam on April 22. The security forces avenged the attack by killing Hashim Musa, alias Suleiman Shah, in an encounter near Srinagar along with two terrorists today.

Suleiman Shah, a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist, is a former commando of the Pakistan Army's elite unit - Special Service Group (SSG). He later joined UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed's LeT to carry out terror activities, sources told NDTV.

In a joint operation of the Army, CRPF and the Jammu and Kashmir Police, Operation Mahadev was launched earlier this morning to track, corner and hunt down the terrorists.

The killing of Suleiman in the operation is being viewed as a major success for the forces. After the Pahalgam attack, the Jammu and Kashmir Police had announced a Rs 20 lakh reward for anyone providing information about Suleiman.

Suleiman infiltrated India in September 2023 and started terror operations in South Kashmir. In October 2024, he led an attack in which seven civilians were killed when terrorists opened fire on a camp housing workers of a private company who were building a tunnel.

He was also involved in an attack in Baramulla in which four security personnel were killed in action. Sources in security agencies told NDTV that he was involved in at least six terrorist attacks. After the Pahalgam attack, a house-to-house search was carried out by security forces to track Hashim Musa/Suleiman Shah.

Operation Mahadev

All the terrorists, it is learnt, were "high-value" targets and foreign nationals. According to reports, the security forces acted on an intelligence input and launched the operation in the Mulnar area of Harwan. Reinforcements have been rushed to the area, and a combing exercise is on.

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

NDTV has also accessed a photo of the terrorist hideout that was targeted in Operation Mahadev. The visuals show multiple guns in the hideout located deep inside a forest area. According to sources, Carbine and AK-47 rifles, 17 rifle grenades and other arms and ammunition were recovered during the encounter. Security forces suspect that the terrorists were planning a big action in Jammu and Kashmir.

The security forces were keeping a physical and electronic surveillance. The forces got a clue about a Chinese ultra radio communication being active, after which the operation was carried out. The Lashkar-e-Taiba uses the Chinese radio for encrypted messages, and in 2016, it was also called WY SMS.

Operation Sindoor

On the intervening night of May 6 and 7, India carried out precision strikes around 1 am on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam attack. India struck bases in Pakistan and PoK from where terrorist attacks were being planned and executed. Nine sites were targeted in the strikes under the codename 'Operation Sindoor' - an ode to the women who lost their husbands in the Pahalgam attack.

Read more: India's Operation Sindoor: Precision Strikes At Terror Bases In Pakistan

India's retaliatory strike was designed to dismantle key logistical, operational, and training infrastructure used by LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hizbul Mujahideen, and other affiliated networks.

Each of the nine sites selected for the operation had a history of association with major terror plots and infiltration attempts directed at India.

One of the sites, Muridke, is the headquarters of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is run by Hafiz Saeed, and Bahalwapur in Pakistan's Punjab province is the base of Jaish-e-Mohammad, an outfit run by Masood Azhar.