Hashim Musa Killed in Budgam Encounter; Four-Member LeT Group Eliminated in J&K

SRINAGAR: A prolonged security operation against a four-member Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group operating in Jammu and Kashmir since 2022 reached its latest and final stage with the killing of Mohammad Asif alias Hashim Musa, also known as Asif Fauji, in Budgam district.

Musa was killed during an overnight encounter in the Khansahib area of central Kashmir, the Army said on Wednesday. His death leaves none of the four senior LeT commanders whom the Union government says formed the group operating across Jammu and Kashmir since 2022.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Musa had remained under surveillance for an extended period.

Security agencies intensified efforts to locate him after receiving a combination of technical and human intelligence about his movements. A coordinated operation was subsequently mounted in the Khansahib area.

The Army’s Chinar Corps said that a search operation in the Palmaidan area led to the recovery of Musa’s body in the early hours of Wednesday.

Weapons and other material described by the Army as war-like stores were also recovered from the area.

The encounter was the culmination of a wider counter-terrorism campaign.

The Home Ministry has described the action as part of Operation Sheruwali, which began in May 2026, with the Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police and Central Armed Police Forces working together against terrorist networks in the Union Territory.

Four commanders, four separate operations

Musa was the final member of the group to be killed. The other three were eliminated in separate encounters over nearly two years.

Junaid Bhat was killed at Dachigam in December 2024. Suleman was subsequently killed during Operation Mahadev in July 2025, while Yasir was eliminated during Operation Asdhar in September 2026.

With Musa’s death, the Home Ministry said the entire four-member group had been neutralised.

The government has attributed a series of attacks in Jammu and Kashmir to the group.

These include the Kandi attack of May 2023, the Halan attack in August that year, the Dehra Ki Gali attack in December 2023, Shahsitar and Shiv Khori in 2024, attacks at Gagangir and Bootapathri later that year, and the Baisaran attack in April 2025.

Among the attacks cited by officials was the August 2023 assault in Kulgam’s Halan area, in which four Army personnel were killed. The group has also been linked by authorities to the December 2023 attack on Army vehicles in Poonch, in which five soldiers died.

Musa’s identity came into sharper focus after investigators examining a mobile phone recovered during Operation Dachigam found photographs showing him alongside the other three members of the group, according to security officials cited in reports.

Officials said Musa was believed to have entered the Kashmir Valley in 2022. He subsequently became one of the security agencies’ key targets as they tracked the activities of foreign and local LeT operatives across the region.

His alleged association with the network also placed him among the individuals security agencies were investigating in connection with the April 2025 Baisaran attack in Pahalgam, in which 26 people were killed.

Recent reports citing officials have described Musa as one of the suspects in the conspiracy surrounding the attack.

The latest encounter occurred in the mountainous terrain of Budgam, an area where security forces have been conducting sustained searches for terrorist hideouts and movement corridors.

The Home Ministry described Musa’s elimination as a major setback to the LeT network in Jammu and Kashmir.

With all four commanders from the group now dead, security agencies are continuing operations against other suspected foreign terrorists and support networks operating in difficult terrain across the Union Territory.