Indian authorities report that all three militants involved in the deadly assault on tourists near Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir in April were members of the UN-designated terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and hailed from Pakistan.
Previously, police had released sketches of the three suspects, identifying two as Pakistanis and one as a local individual.
The assertion from the National Investigative Agency (NIA) followed the arrest of two local men suspected of providing shelter to the attackers. Pakistan has not publicly responded to these allegations.
Pakistan had earlier dismissed any connection to the attack, which resulted in the deaths of 26 people. The incident at Baisaran, a well-known tourist destination, nearly escalated tensions between India and Pakistan to the point of war.
The two nuclear-armed neighbours, who have engaged in three wars over Kashmir, both claim complete sovereignty over the region but govern it in separate areas.
The events of April 22 caused significant alarm throughout India, leading to the case being assigned to the NIA, a federal investigation agency.
In a statement on Sunday, NIA said the arrested men had “knowingly harboured the three armed terrorists at a seasonal hut” before the 22 April attack without giving details of when the arrests took place.
Security forces carried out a comprehensive search and combing operation in the area, resulting in the detention of thousands across Kashmir for questioning. However, the three attackers remain at large.
After the attack, India annulled the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, a long-standing water-sharing agreement with Pakistan. In response, Islamabad retracted its participation in the 1972 Simla agreement, which aimed to resolve disputes through dialogue and peaceful means.
Subsequently, India launched air and missile strikes on May 7, targeting locations it described as terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Pakistan denied the accusations that these locations were terror camps and retaliated by firing missiles and deploying drones into Indian airspace.
Hostilities between the two nations escalated until May 10, when US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire.
