Three armed men killed on Monday were involved in deadly attack on tourists in Pahalgam, India’s home minister says.
Published On 29 Jul 2025
India’s Home Minister Amit Shah has said three suspected rebels killed in Indian-administered Kashmir were responsible for the April killings of tourists in the disputed region’s Pahalgam that led to an intense military conflict with Pakistan.
The minister’s comments came on Tuesday, a day after the heavily-armed suspects were killed in a joint operation by the military, paramilitary and police on the outskirts of Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar.
“I want to tell the Parliament, those who attacked in Baisaran were three terrorists and all three have been killed,” said Shah, referring to the area near the Kashmiri town of Pahalgam where 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists, were shot dead on April 22.
India accused Pakistan of backing the attackers, a charge Islamabad denied, leading to an intense four-day conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals in May that killed more than 70 people on both sides.
Shah said all three were Pakistani nationals and identified two of them as members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based armed group.
“Indian security agencies have detailed evidence of their involvement in the attack,” Shah said in a speech in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament.
Monday’s operation took place in the mountains of Dachigam, about 30km (18 miles) from Srinagar, the army said in a statement.
Shah said a security meet