Kashmir on Monday buzzed with speculation that the shadowy killers of Pahalgam had been hunted down, the supposed reckoning coinciding fatefully with the day Parliament debated Operation Sindoor, but there was no official confirmation.

What was officially announced was that the security forces had killed three militants in a forest on Srinagar’s outskirts as part of “Operation Mahadev”.

Some police sources claimed off the record that two of the militants were “suspected” to have been among the three gunmen who on April 22 killed 26 people in Pahalgam, triggering Kashmir’s longest manhunt in living memory and a military conflict between India and Pakistan.

In particular, one of the slain militants was suggested to be Pakistani militant Suleiman Shah alias Hashim Musa of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the alleged mastermind of the Pahalgam attack.

Security personnel conduct a cordon-and-search operation near Dachigam in Srinagar district on Monday. PTI

If true, the operation will still have left at least one of the Pahalgam perpetrators alive and free. Still, a confirmation is likely to leave the security establishment relieved at the conclusion of a 97-day ordeal during which the attackers seemed to be brazenly mocking the nation’s forces from the recesses of Kashmir’s unforgiving ruggedness.

However, deepening the sense of mystery around the day’s development, the army announced a news conference and then cancelled it, creating a flutter of excitement only to pour cold water on it.

Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, accompanied by Jammu and Kashmir police chief Nalin Prabhat, told reporters in the evening that three Pakistani militants had been killed but declined to say whether they were involved in the Pahalgam attack.

“Police will say it in detail,” Sinha said. But he seemed to be trying to lower expectations by playing the operation down, regretting that while this kind of “kinetic operations” (encounters) received media attention, efforts that saved lives (such as those during natural disasters) did not.

While the army was tight-lipped about the identity of the militants till late evening, several veterans fanned speculation by posting congratulatory messages.

“Sometimes when you despair that results are not forthcoming, you only need to spare a thought to the tough terrain and conditions that exist and can affect such operations…,” the former director-general of military operations, Rajiv Ghai, wrote on X.

“…Also never forget that the Chinar Corps will invariably send terrorists to meet the maker… salute to the valiant warriors of this exalted outfit of the Indian Army.”

Valley police chief Vidhi Kumar Birdi told reporters that it would take “some time” to identify the slain militants as the security parties were still inside the forest and the operation was continuing.

The army had announced the launch of “Operation Mahadev” before noon, saying contact had been established with militants in the Lidwas area.

An hour later, the army came up with the update that “three terrorists (s) have been neutralised in an intense gunfight”.

Subsequently, the defence spokesperson in Srinagar announced that the army’s Chinar Corps chief, Lt Gen. Prashant Srivastava, would address a media conference at 5 pm.

But he later said that “due to some new developments in the said operation, the media brief has been postponed” and that a “fresh date and time” would be announced later.

But claims about Suleiman being among those killed kept everyone agog.

After the Pahalgam attack, the Jammu and Kashmir police had announced a reward of ₹20 lakh for information on Suleiman and the two others believed to be involved.

The forces suspect that Suleiman and his group were involved in several big attacks on the forces and civilians in recent months, including those in Gagangir and Gulmarg.

The Gagangir attack of October 2024 had killed six non-local construction employees and a local doctor working at a tunnel-building site. The same month, two soldiers and two porters were killed in Gulmarg.

Officials said Monday’s encounter began in the morning when joint teams of forces launched a combing operation following intelligence that militants involved in the Pahalgam attack may have moved towards the Dachigam (Lidwas) area.

There have been numerous operations in the vast tracts of forests, stretching over myriad mountains, since April 22. Officials said the Dachigam forest is a four-day trek from Baisaran, the site of the Pahalgam attack, for even hardened trekkers.

Security forces said they had recovered an M4 rifle, AK-47 rifles, grenades and other arms and ammunition during the encounter.