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| After 18 months, one tip-off, one night: How Army cornered LeT's Moosa in Budgam | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Sept 30: After more than 18 months on the run, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Mohammad Asif alias Hashim Moosa alias Asif Fauji was killed by the Army's 15 Chinar Corps in Budgam on Tuesday night. The operation was launched within hours of specific, actionable intelligence about his hideout.
Sources said the operation was driven entirely by intelligence inputs. The information was passed to 15 Chinar Corps, which acted without delay and located Moosa in the Gurweth Kalan area of Budgam. He was killed around 10:30 pm on September 29.
Moosa had been on the radar of security agencies for over a year and a half and was regarded as a high-value foreign terrorist operating in Jammu and Kashmir. According to intelligence inputs, he was in constant contact with LeT commander Sajid Jatt, identified as a key handler in the conspiracy behind the Pahalgam attack. Moosa was not part of the group that carried out the Pahalgam attack. Even so, his sustained communication with Jatt made him a priority target for agencies trying to map and dismantle the wider LeT network in the Union Territory.
A Pakistani national, Moosa is believed to have infiltrated India in 2023. Intelligence inputs indicate he was a former commando of the Pakistan Army's Special Services Group (SSG). After infiltrating, he was allegedly involved in a series of attacks on security forces:
He is linked to the August 4, 2023 attack in Halan, Kulgam, in which three Army personnel were killed, and to the December 21, 2023 ambush in Dera Ki Gali, Poonch, which claimed four Army lives. He is also linked to the May 4, 2024 Moosa had been on the radar of security agencies for over a year and a half and was regarded as a high-value foreign terrorist operating in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to intelligence inputs, he was in constant contact with LeT commander Sajid Jatt, identified as a key handler in the conspiracy behind the Pahalgam attack.
Moosa was not part of the group that carried out the Pahalgam attack. Even so, his sustained communication with Jatt made him a priority target for agencies trying to map and dismantle the wider LeT network in the Union Territory.
An AK-47 rifle, two AK magazines, two LoRa/Ultra communication devices and a mobile phone were recovered from the encounter site.
The Budgam operation comes over a year after the security forces eliminated three other LeT terrorists in Operation Mahadev, a joint operation of the Army, CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir Police in Dachigam in 2025. The three killed were Suleman, Hamza Afghani and Zibran, all category 'A' terrorists. Suleman was a commander who was allegedly involved in the attacks in Pahalgam and Gagangir. Afghani and Zibran were linked to the killing of civilians in Baisaran Valley.
The Pahalgam attack took place at about 1 pm on April 22, 2025. Home Minister Amit Shah reached Srinagar by 5:30 pm, and a security meeting the next day, attended by the Army, CRPF and J&K Police, resolved that the perpetrators must not be allowed to escape to Pakistan.
On May 22, 2025, the Intelligence Bureau received human intelligence about the presence of terrorists in Dachigam, and Operation Mahadev began the same day. For two months, the IB and the Army worked to verify the input, deploying equipment to pick up ultra-set signals in the area. Officers and jawans of the IB, Army and CRPF trekked through the cold and high altitudes to intercept them.
On July 22, 2025, sensors confirmed the terrorists' presence. Personnel of the CRPF and J&K Police, led by 4 Para, then surrounded the hideout and killed all three. |
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