The defence ministry has debunked viral reports regarding the identities of the Pahalgam attackers and clarified that the armed forces have not prepared any such reports.
The widely circulated purported identity reports linking terrorists involved in the Pahalgam terror attack with Pakistan were fake, the defence ministry said.
In a statement published on Monday, the ministry said none of the forces or agencies under it have published any reports regarding the identities of the three terrorists involved in the Pahalgam terror attack. The terrorists with alleged Pakistani links were gunned down by security forces during a recent military operation in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a social media post, the Integrated Defence Staff Headquarters said no official document has been released regarding the terrorists' identities. "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," it said.
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The defence ministry said none of the armed forces personnel have made remarks. "The report appears to be a compilation of information on post-encounter findings, collated from open sources, it said.
Earlier in the day, several media and social media accounts shared images allegedly showing Pakistan-issued national identity cards of the three terrorists killed in Operation Mahadev. Reports claimed investigators have gathered evidence, including biometric records of Pakistan's National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), voter identity slips and digital satellite phone data of the three Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists involved in the terror attack.
Security forces killed Suleman Shah, the mastermind of the Pahalgam terror attack, and his accomplices Abu Hamza and Yasir during Operation Mahadev recently. Incidentally, the operation coincided with the discussion on Operation Sindoor and the Pahalgam terror attack in Parliament.