TRF published photo of Pahalgam attack site, twice claimed responsibility: UNSC sanctions monitoring report

United Nations: The Resistance Front (TRF) had twice claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam terror attack and “published a photograph of the attack site”, the UN Security Council’s sanctions monitoring team has said.

The team in a report also cited assertions that the attack could not have happened without the support of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT).

The 36th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team concerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaeda and associated individuals and entities, released here on Tuesday, mentions the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 civilians were killed, saying "five terrorists attacked a tourist spot in Pahalgam, in Jammu and Kashmir”.

“The attack was claimed that same day by The Resistance Front (TRF), who in parallel published a photograph of the attack site,” said the report, which was submitted to the 1267 ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaeda sanctions committee of the UN Security Council.

The report said that the “claim of responsibility” by TRF was “repeated the following day. On 26 April, however, TRF retracted its claim. There was no further communication from TRF, and no other group claimed responsibility,” it said.

The report cited a member state which said that “the attack could not have happened without Lashkar-e-Taiba support, and that there was a relationship between LeT and TRF. Another member state said that the attack was carried out by TRF, which was synonymous with LeT."

It also noted that one member state “rejected" these views and said that LeT was “defunct”.

The report added that regional relations remain fragile.

“There is a risk that terrorist groups may exploit these regional tensions.”

This month, the US listed TRF as a designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation and Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

Following the Pahalgam attack, the 15-nation Security Council had on April 25 issued a press statement, underlining the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of the reprehensible act of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice.

However, the statement did not mention TRF as the group responsible for the attack after Pakistan managed to get the name removed.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in the Indian Parliament on Monday that when the Security Council was discussing the press statement, Pakistan tried to get any mention of TRF excluded.

India had launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the Pahalgam attack.

The Sanctions Monitoring Team report further said that ISIL-K continued to represent the most serious threat, both regionally in Central and South Asia and internationally.

With about 2,000 fighters, ISIL-K (The Islamic State – Khorasan Province) continued to recruit both inside and outside Afghanistan, including among Central Asian States and the Russian North Caucasus.

“In North Afghanistan and areas close to the Pakistani borders, ISIL-K indoctrinated children in madrassas, establishing a suicide training course for minors aged approximately 14 years old,” the report said.

It added that ISIL-K tried to establish operations in the countries neighbouring Afghanistan and globally.

“There were reported to be several Al-Qaeda-related training sites across Afghanistan, and three newer sites were identified, although these were likely to be small and rudimentary,” it said, adding that these sites reportedly trained both Al-Qaeda and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters.

The TTP had approximately 6,000 fighters and continued to receive substantial logistical and operational support from the de facto authorities in Afghanistan. Some member states reported that the TTP maintained tactical-level connections with ISIL-K.

The TTP continued to carry out high-profile attacks in the region, some of which incurred mass casualties. It was reported that the TTP had continued access to a range of weapons, enhancing the lethality of attacks.

“One member state reported that, in January 2025, TTP provided training to terrorists in Baluchistan.”

The report said some member states suggested that there was close coordination between the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) (including its Majeed Brigade) and TTP in parts of southern Afghanistan. One member state reported that they shared four training camps (e.g. Walikot, Shorabak), and that Al-Qaida provided ideological and weapons training.

Some BLA attacks showed a high degree of complexity, the report said, citing the March 11 hijack by the BLA of the Jaffar Express train in an isolated mountainous region with improvised explosive devices and other weapons, killing 31, including 21 hostages, “which demonstrated in a high-profile manner the rise in the group’s capacity and brutality.”

There were also concerns that the confidence and ambition of Al-Qaiea in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) were increasing, it said.