Operation Keller: 3 local Lashkar terrorists killed in south Kashmir

Operation Keller
SRINAGAR: Three
Kashmiri terrorists
linked to Pakistan-backed banned group
Lashkar-e-Taiba
were shot dead Tuesday during an Army-led
counterterrorism operation
in upper reaches of
south Kashmir
's Shopian district, about 80km south of Srinagar.
Two of the slain men were identified as Shahid Kuttay and Adnan Shafi Dar, both locals from Shopian whose family homes were demolished with explosives following the April 22
Pahalgam attack
that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. Officials have yet to confirm identity of the third terrorist.
Officials have not confirmed if the trio had direct links to Pahalgam massacre, saying investigations are underway.
Police records list Kuttay as an active terrorist since March 8, 2023. Dar joined LeT on Oct 18, 2024. Both were trained locally.
Police said Kuttay was involved in the April 8 shooting at Danish Resort in Shopian, where two German tourists and their driver were wounded. The resort lies along Mughal Road connecting Kashmir valley with Poonch district of Jammu. He also had a role in the killing of a BJP sarpanch in Heerpora of Shopian on May 18, 2024.
Dar, according to police, was responsible for killing a migrant labourer in Shopian's Wachi on the day he joined LeT.
Tuesday's offensive was launched after intelligence inputs received by Rashtriya Rifles indicated presence of armed terrorists in Shoekal Keller area. Joint teams of Army and paramilitary forces quickly cordoned off the dense forest zone in a search operation codenamed
Operation Keller
.
A fierce firefight broke out as forces surrounded the terrorists and blocked escape routes, resulting in deaths of all three. 'Operation is in progress,' Army said in a statement.
This marked Kashmir valley's second security shootout with terrorists this year. On March 16, J&K police shot dead a Pakistani terrorist in Handwara forest, roughly 100km north of Srinagar.
Posters featuring images of three suspects in Pahalgam attack have appeared across parts of south Kashmir, particularly Shopian, offering a reward of Rs 20 lakh for information. Written in Urdu, the posters urge public assistance: 'Those who killed the innocents do not have a place in our country.' Another line reads: 'Kashmir is united against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.'
Security forces are on high alert and in pursuit of terrorists amid a pause in Indo-Pak military action, which was triggered by India launching airstrikes on nine terrorist sites in PoK and Pakistan under Operation Sindoor on May 7, a fortnight after the Pahalgam massacre.

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