Four Lashkar-e-Taiba militants in viral photograph killed in separate operations

All four Lashkar-e-Taiba militants shown together in a widely circulated photograph have been killed in separate operations, according to India Today. The latest was senior commander Hashim Moosa, also known as Fauji, who was killed on September 29. The other men were identified as Junaid Ahmed Bhat, Abu Talha and Suleman Shah, also known as Faisal Jatt.

The report links the group to attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, including the October 2024 attack near Gagangir and the April 2025 attack in Pahalgam. The photograph became widely known after the Pahalgam attack. The source material says it showed four men in combat clothing carrying assault rifles in a forested area.

Its origin was not established, although a report said it had been recovered from the phone of Junaid Bhat. Bhat, described as a Lashkar commander from Kulgam, was killed in an encounter in the Dachigam area in December 2024. The report attributes to him the Gagangir attack, in which seven civilians were killed.

Suleman Shah was killed during Operation Mahadev on July 28, 2025, after security agencies used drones, remotely piloted aircraft and other surveillance equipment to track militants in the Dachigam area. The report says the Union Home Minister later told Parliament that weapons recovered from the militants matched those used in the Pahalgam attack. Abu Talha, identified as a Pakistani national, was killed during Operation Ashdar in the higher reaches of Yusmarg on September 6.

An AK-series rifle and other war-like stores were recovered, according to the report. Moosa was described as the last surviving member of the group in the photograph and as a former Pakistan Special Service Group para-commando. Security forces located him in the Korag-Yusmarg belt and killed him in an encounter at Palmaidan during Operation Korag, the report said.