Op Mahadev | Satellite phone slip-up may have tracked Pahalgam terror module

Srinagar: A brief satellite phone call made two days ago may have finally led security forces to the Lashkar-e-Taiba module behind the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, in which 25 tourists and a local resident were killed in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

Sources said a Huawei satellite phone, suspected to have been used by the attackers, had gone silent immediately after the massacre. For months, intelligence agencies tracked its signal — until it briefly reactivated two days ago.

The call, likely made by a surviving member of the module, was enough to trigger alarms. Its location was traced to a remote patch of Dachigam forest, devoid of habitation or cellular networks — raising strong suspicion of a terrorist hideout.

Based on this input, a joint team of the Indian Army’s Special Forces and J&K Police launched ‘Operation Mahadev’ early Monday. In the encounter that followed, three terrorists were killed. One of them was quickly identified as Hashim Musa alias Suleman, believed to be the mastermind of the Pahalgam attack.

The other two are Pakistani nationals, preliminarily identified as Yasir and Abu Hamza — names previously mentioned by Parvez and Bashir Ahmed, two harbourers arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Intelligence officials believe the Dachigam hideout may have been a last-resort fallback location, possibly prepared months in advance with support from Lashkar handlers across the border. The satellite phone — silent for over three months — was the only thread that remained, and its reactivation proved costly.

“Even the most disciplined blackout can slip under pressure. One call was all it took,” said a senior security officer.

While the operation may have dismantled a key part of the Pahalgam module, investigators are now combing through digital data and satellite intercepts to determine whether more operatives from the original group are still at large.