SRINAGAR: A photograph of four Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists that went viral following the April 22, 2025 Pahalgam terror attack has taken on a different significance after the killing of top LeT commander Hashim Moosa alias Fauji. With Moosa’s death, all four terrorists seen together in the photograph have now been killed in separate encounters with security forces.
The photograph showed the four men in combat gear carrying assault rifles in a forested area and became widely circulated after the Pahalgam attack. The group comprised Junaid Ahmed Bhat, Abu Talha, Suleman Shah alias Faisal Jatt and Hashim Moosa.
The terrorists were linked by investigators to several major attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, including the October 2024 Gagangir attack and the Pahalgam massacre, in which 26 people were killed.
Junaid Bhat killed in Dachigam
Junaid Bhat, a Lashkar commander from Kulgam, was the first of the four to be killed. He was eliminated during an encounter in the Dachigam forest area of Srinagar on December 3, 2024.
Bhat was linked to the October 2024 attack near a tunnel construction site in Gagangir, Ganderbal, in which seven civilians, including a doctor and six labourers, were killed.
The photograph later gained further significance after investigators linked members of the group to the wider Lashkar network operating in Kashmir.
Suleman Shah killed after Pahalgam attack
The next major development came after the Pahalgam attack, when security forces launched a multi-agency hunt for the terrorists allegedly involved in the massacre.
Suleman Shah, along with two other terrorists, was killed during Operation Mahadev in the Dachigam area on July 28, 2025.
Security forces had used drones, remotely piloted aircraft, electro-optical sensors and other surveillance equipment during the operation.
According to investigators, weapons recovered from the slain terrorists, including two AK-47 rifles and an M-4 carbine, were linked to the Pahalgam attack. The group was also suspected of involvement in other attacks, including the December 2023 Army convoy attack in Poonch and the May 2024 attack on an Air Force convoy.
Abu Talha killed in Yusmarg operation
The third terrorist, Pakistani national Yasir alias Abu Talha, was killed during Operation Ashdar in the higher reaches of Yusmarg, Budgam, on September 6.
An AK-series rifle and other war-like stores were recovered following the encounter.
Abu Talha had been linked to the 2024 Gagangir attack and the October 2024 attack on an Army vehicle in the Bota Pathri area of Gulmarg, in which four people, including two soldiers, were killed.
According to security agency inputs, he had earlier operated as part of Moosa’s LeT group before reportedly becoming an independent operative.
Moosa was the last of the four
Hashim Moosa, also known as Fauji, remained the last surviving terrorist seen in the photograph.
Security agencies had identified him as a Pakistan-based LeT commander and linked him to the Pahalgam attack. He was also reported to have served as a para-commando with Pakistan’s Special Service Group.
Following the killing of Abu Talha, security forces intensified their search for Moosa in the difficult Korag-Yusmarg belt.
The hunt ended on September 29, when Moosa was killed during an encounter in the Palmaidan area of Budgam during Operation Korag. Security forces subsequently recovered his body along with war-like stores.
With Moosa’s death, the four terrorists captured together in the viral photograph have now been killed in separate operations, bringing an end to a group that investigators had linked to several major terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.
