'Faces Looked Familiar': Tourist's Reel Captured Possible Pahalgam Attackers Days Before Massacre?
A Maharashtra man has shared the videos and photos with the NIA, stating that the two terror suspects were caught in one of his reels in the Betaab Valley in Kashmir.
A reel shot by a tourist from Maharashtra could hold vital clues for investigators probing the terrorists who killed 26 people — mostly holidayers — in a meadow near Kashmir’s Pahalgam earlier this week.
The man — News18.com is withholding his identity — says he visited Betaab Valley in Kashmir on April 18, four days before the brazen attack that sent shockwaves across the nation and drew global condemnation. After visiting Betaab Valley, he and his family toured other popular destinations such as Srinagar and Gulmarg, and left the Valley a day before the attack.
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It was at Betaab Valley that the man shot a reel featuring his daughter — a video that has now generated serious interest. The reel appears to capture two individuals resembling the Pahalgam suspects walking inconspicuously past the family.
News18.com has chosen not to publish the reel or reveal the faces of the men captured in the video, given the sensitivity of the case. News18.com also acknowledges that, at this stage, there is no evidence directly linking the individuals seen in the footage to the Pahalgam attack.
Maharashtra Man Shares Details With NIA
The Maharashtra tourist tipped off officials, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA), after the attack. He says he received concerned calls from friends and relatives on April 22, hours after the assault that unfolded that afternoon. The next day, authorities released sketches of the suspects, and a photograph of them went viral on social media. It was this viral image that prompted the Maharashtra man to sound the alarm.
He says a couple of faces in the viral photo looked familiar, prompting him to sift through the digital dump of photos and videos from their Kashmir vacation. His search ended at the reel shot in Betaab Valley — located about 10km from Baisaran Valley, where the attackers targeted Hindu men, pulled down their pants to ascertain their religion, and shot them point-blank.
Officials have yet to comment on the reel. Only forensic analysis can confirm whether the men seen in the video are indeed the Pahalgam suspects. But the Maharashtra tourist is confident he inadvertently captured two of the perpetrators — not far from the crime scene, and just days before the carnage.
Earlier this week, the Jammu and Kashmir Police released the sketches of the terrorists involved in the attack and also announced a bounty of Rs 20 lakh on each one of them. They are affiliated with a Pakistan-based terrorist outfit, Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The three terrorists were identified as Hashim Musa alias Sulaiman, Ali Bhai alias Talha Bhai, and Adil Hussain Thokar. Musa and Talha are Pakistanis, while Thokar is a local terrorist, the officials said.
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