Lensman who survived Pahalgam attack by climbing tree may help NIA unmask killers

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today formally took charge of the Pahalgam terror attack probe and has already uncovered vital leads that could piece together the chilling sequence behind one of Kashmir’s deadliest massacres.

Sources said a local photographer, who narrowly survived the carnage by climbing a tree, managed to record a video that is now proving critical in helping the agency identify the attackers.

NIA teams had been assisting the local police at the site since Wednesday, but after a formal order from the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalisation (CTCR) division, the agency registered a case late Saturday in Jammu and escalated its evidence-gathering efforts.

Multiple teams of the NIA hit the Baisaran valley along with forensic teams and thoroughly scanned the area where 26 people were shot dead by an “unknown number” of terrorists on April 22.

Recovered bullet shells confirmed that AK-47 rifles and M-4 carbines were used in the massacre. Investigators suspect the attackers split into two groups and targeted the victims at close range, sources said.

Besides the photographer, several eyewitnesses have been questioned, including a senior security officer who happened to be vacationing in the area with his family when the attack unfolded.

The terrorists most likely trekked for several hours from the Kokernag forests to reach the Baisaran meadow. The NIA teams also checked the entry and exit points for clues to the modus operandi of the terrorists.

According to sources, once all key witnesses are examined, and all video recordings are analysed, agency sleuths will try to reconstruct the entire incident so as to understand the movement of the perpetrators in both forward and backward directions.

While the exact number of assailants remains uncertain, witness accounts suggest five to six gunmen operating in two coordinated groups.

Meanwhile, on the ground, the Army and other security forces are intensifying combing operations to hunt down the attackers, even as intelligence agencies have traced the digital footprints of the operation to safehouses in Muzaffarabad and Karachi.