The Indian army on Monday said it killed three alleged militants after an intense gunfight in India-administered Kashmir.
One of the men killed was described in Indian media reports as the “mastermind” of the 22 April attack, when 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists, were killed in the picturesque Pahalgam valley.
“Three terrorists have been neutralised in an intense firefight. Operation Continues,” the Indian army wrote on X. The gunfight reportedly took place in the mountains of Dachigam, around 30km from Srinagar city.
Police Inspector-General Vidhi Kumar Birdi told reporters that the joint operation by the military, paramilitary and police was still ongoing, and declined to provide more details.
But multiple Indian media reports quoted security sources as identifying one of those killed as Suleiman Shah, an operative for the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, describing him as one of the perpetrators and the main orchestrator of the Pahalgam attack.
New Delhi accused Pakistan of backing the gunmen who carried out the massacre in the restive Himalayan valley. Islamabad denied the charge and sought an independent investigation.
Monday's incident is the second major gunfight in the region since 22 April. The Indian army also said in May that its soldiers killed three suspected militants in a gunfight.
April’s terror attack triggered one of the worst military escalations in decades between India and Pakistan, which saw dozens of people killed in cross-border shelling as well as drone and missile attacks on both sides. The conflict began after India struck alleged militant hideouts in Pakistan on 7 May to avenge the killings.
After their air forces engaged in the biggest dog-fight since the Second World War, the nuclear-powered neighbours stepped back from the brink of an all-out conflict, with US President Donald Trump announcing they had agreed to a ceasefire.
Mr Trump said once again on Monday that he believed India and Pakistan would still be fighting now if he had not stopped the conflict, and said he did so by threatening to pull out of trade talks with both countries.
Pakistan thanked Mr Trump for brokering the agreement at the time of the ceasefire, while India insists the conflict was ended through bilateral talks and not third-party mediation from Washington.
Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh told the parliament on Monday that New Delhi ended its military conflict with Pakistan as it had met all its objectives.
“India halted its operation because all the political and military objectives studied before and during the conflict had been fully achieved,” Mr Singh said. “To suggest that the operation was called off under pressure is baseless and entirely incorrect,” he said.
Mr Singh claimed “terror heads” were destroyed in Pakistan and “none of our soldiers were harmed”.
India confirmed for the first time on 31 May that it had lost jets during the conflict but refused to clarify their number or nature. Pakistan claimed it had shot down five Indian aircraft in air-to-air combat, including French-made Rafale jets. India said it had downed “a few planes”, a claim that was refuted by Islamabad, even though the country acknowledged its air bases had suffered hits.
Indian opposition groups have questioned what they say is the intelligence failure behind the Kashmir attack and the government’s inability to capture the assailants – issues they were expected to raise during the parliament discussion.
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