3 days on, no clarity on identity, count of ultras involved in Pahalgam killings

Three days after the Pahalgam terror attack, the security agencies are unsure whether the three terrorists — whose sketches were released — were actually the ones involved in the incident. Besides, the investigators are not yet clear about the exact number of terrorists involved in the attack.

Sources, involved in investigations, informed The Tribune that the sketches of three terrorists, suspected to have been involved in the April 22 terror attack, in which 26 civilians were gunned down in the Baisaran meadow, were prepared on the basis of descriptions given by eyewitnesses.

The eyewitnesses were then shown pictures of terrorists available with the J&K police, whose descriptions matched the sketches. Subsequently, on the basis of confirmation by the eyewitnesses, three sketches of Hashim Musa, Ali Bhai and Adil Hussain Thoker were released.

Musa and Ali are Pakistani terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiyyaba (LeT), Thoker is reportedly a Kashmir resident, who acted as a guide to the two terrorists.

However, sources said there was no certainty whether the three aforementioned terrorists were actually the ones seen by eyewitnesses during the attack. According to certain accounts, the attackers simply looked similar as they sported beards.

“Moreover, the sketches are based on descriptions given by eyewitnesses on whatever they might have seen in moments of fear and anxiety. Additional attempt to match them with pictures of terrorists available in police records, may not guarantee accuracy,” they added.

Meanwhile, houses of two suspected terrorists — namely Asif Sheikh at Tral in Pulwama district and Adil Thoker in Bijbehara, Anantnag — were razed on Friday. Only one of these houses belonged to one of the three suspected terrorist, Adil Hussain Thoker, whose sketches were released by the J&K Police.