New Delhi: The terrorists who carried out the barbaric Pahalgam attack on 22 April chose the Baisaran valley because it sees high tourist footfall and is relatively isolated from the main areas, National Investigation Agency officials said Thursday.
The senior NIA officials said the terrorists also chose the area because the response time for security forces in a case of emergency in Baisaran is higher than other areas. The Baisaran Valley is a meadow located about 6.5 km from Pahalgam in the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Popularly known as the mini Switzerland of Kashmir, Baisaran is accessible only through pony rides or long treks.
The NIA officials also said the three terrorists killed in Operation Mahadev were the only direct attackers.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said in July the three terrorists who carried out the Pahalgam attack were eliminated in Operation Mahadev. He had said all three—identified as Suleiman alias Faizal Jatt, Afghan and Jibran—were from Pakistan.
They were tracked and traced on the basis of scientific and technical assistance. Eyewitness accounts, forensic analysis as well as ballistic reports confirmed the identity of the three terrorists killed in the operation, he had told Parliament.
The three terrorists had struck Pahalgam’s Baisaran valley on 22 April, spraying the tourists holidaying in the scenic spot with bullets. In total, they killed 26 people, including a Nepalese national, before fleeing.
Home Minister Shah had said the Intelligence Bureau (IB) received a tip-off from human intelligence sources 22 May about the presence of these terrorists around the Dachigam forest area.
The NIA brought in four eyewitnesses who had also identified the terrorists. The agency made the first arrests in the case in June when two local ponywallas were taken into custody. Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar and Bashir Ahmad Jothar were arrested for allegedly providing the shelter to the three Pakistani terrorists at a seasonal hut.
The duo had confirmed the three attackers were from Pakistan, and were associated with the Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
“Further investigation is on in the matter,” an NIA official said Thursday.
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