Pahalgam attack mastermind killed; martyr Lt Narwal's father hail forces

Chandigarh: Pahalgam terror attack victim Lt Vinay Narwal's father, Rajesh Narwal, on Monday said he salutes the defence forces after the mastermind of the ghastly attack was among three terrorists killed on the outskirts of Srinagar.

"I want to salute the Army, our paramilitary and J-K police jawans for their bravery," Rajesh Narwal told reporters in Karnal.

"The way they did not care for their lives and hunted them down is not an easy task. I salute them for their bravery. They should be honoured for this," he further said.

He said that right from the start, he had been talking of Pakistan's hand in the attack. "It is a big success for our forces...I had said this earlier too that our forces will hunt them down one day," he said.

In May, after Operation Sindoor, Rajesh Narwal had hailed India's response and said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has sent a strong message and now the perpetrators of the April 22 attack "will think 100 times" before repeating such attacks in the future.

Married just a few days before the Pahalgam attack, Indian Navy officer Vinay Narwal (26), accompanied by his wife Himanshi, was on a honeymoon in south Kashmir's Pahalgam town when terrorists shot him at point-blank range, an incident in which 25 others, mostly tourists, were also killed.

In a major breakthrough, the Army's elite para commandos on Monday gunned down the alleged mastermind of the Pahalgam terror attack along with two of his associates in an encounter in a forest area on the outskirts of Srinagar in Kashmir.

Officials said Sulieman alias Asif, who is believed to be the mastermind of the April 22 attack, was killed after the security forces launched a surprise action, codenamed 'Operation Mahadev', following a technical signal indicating the use of a satellite phone that was used by the perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack.

The other terrorists killed in the action have been identified as Jibran — who was allegedly involved in the Sonamarg Tunnel attack last year — and Hamza Afghani.

As many as 26 persons — mostly tourists — were shot dead by terrorists at Baisaran meadows in Pahalgam, which prompted the armed forces to launch Operation Sindoor on May 7 against the terror infrastructure in Pakistan.