The Ministry of Defence (MoD) on August 4, refuted a viral social media report that falsely claimed to reveal the identities and backgrounds of the terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack. The ministry stated unequivocally that no such report has been prepared or issued by the Indian Armed Forces or its official media outlets.
“A report on the identities and background of the Pahalgam attackers is being circulated through media/social media handles and attributed to the Services. No authorised media handle of the Indian Armed Forces has prepared or issued any such document. Neither have any remarks of this nature been made by the Armed Forces Public Relations Offices/nominated spokespersons,” the official MoD statement read.
🚨 Social media accounts are spreading a Report on the Identities and Background of the Pahalgam Attackers’.
▶️ No authorised media handle of the Armed Forces has prepared or issued any such document.
▶️ No remarks of this nature have been made by the Armed Forces Public… pic.twitter.com/7UphgDvi3a
— HQ IDS (@HQ_IDS_India) August 4, 2025
The viral post, widely circulated online, appeared to be a compilation of open-source information following the post-encounter investigations of the Pahalgam terror attack. The MoD clarified that attributing such unauthenticated information to the Indian Armed Forces was misleading and baseless.
The clarification comes days after three terrorists responsible for the gruesome attack in Pahalgam’s Baisaran meadow, which claimed the lives of 26 people, mostly tourists, were neutralised in a high-level anti-terror operation, code-named ‘Operation Mahadev’, on the outskirts of Srinagar.
According to officials, the three slain terrorists were top operatives of Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Identified as:
- Suleman Shah alias “Faizal Jatt”: an A++ category LeT commander and the mastermind/lead shooter in the Pahalgam attack.
- Abu Hamza alias “Afghan”: an A-grade commander and second shooter.
- Yasir alias “Jibran”: an A-grade commander and the third gunman.
All three were hiding in the Dachigam-Harwan forest belt near Srinagar since the April 22 terror strike. The successful encounter, executed jointly by Indian security forces, confirmed the identities and Pakistani nationality of the terrorists.
Home Minister Amit Shah, in a recent statement to Parliament, said that the security agencies had collected forensic, digital, biometric and documentary evidence that left no doubt about the nationality and affiliation of the attackers. Crucial pieces of evidence include:
- Biometric data matched with Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA)
- Voter identity slips
- Satellite phone data, including GPS waypoints and communication logs
- Forensic evidence and eyewitness accounts
Officials further confirmed that the trio had infiltrated through the Gurez sector in North Kashmir in May 2022, as traced through intercepted radio communications from the Pakistani side of the Line of Control (LoC).
The Pahalgam terror attack, one of the deadliest in recent years, has been linked directly to Pakistan-based handlers and organisations. The Defence Ministry’s clarification aims to curb the spread of misinformation and underscore the Indian armed forces’ commitment to verified and factual reporting.
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