Only 1 active local terrorist left in J&K; hunt on for Mohammed Lateef Bhat

Around five years ago, security agencies estimated there were 50-60 active local terrorists. In May 2025, official records showed 17 active local terrorists.

Jammu & Kashmir now has just one active local terrorist left, according to records maintained by security agencies including the police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), with officers mounting an intensive hunt for Kulgam resident Mohammed Lateef Bhat, whom investigators suspect was behind the killing of two migrant workers from Chhattisgarh, the July 22 shooting of a head constable and plans to target the ongoing Amarnath Yatra, said people aware of the matter.

Police personnel keep vigil along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway following a terrorist attack, in Kulgam district, Jammu and Kashmir, on Sunday. (HT_PRINT)

People familiar with the matter said updated security records show there is now only one active local terrorist in Jammu and Kashmir, compared with 40-50 foreign terrorists operating across the Union territory, said a security officer.

1 local active terrorist left

Around five years ago, security agencies estimated there were 50-60 active local terrorists. As recently as May 2025, official records showed 17 active local terrorists -- 14 in Kashmir and three in Jammu -- along with around 60 foreign terrorists said the official cited above.

The fall in local recruitment is due to the crackdown by security forces on one hand and National Investigation Agency (NIA) probes over the past few years that have throttled groups that were allegedly funding terrorism. In the last two years, a massive crackdown on terror financing and narco terrorism was launched by the NIA.

According to security officials, Bhat escaped during a joint operation by the Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police and the CRPF in which security forces killed Zakir Ahmed Ganei, a Category A Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, on July 8 in a forested area of Anantnag district.

Part of Operation Sheruwali

Officials said Ganei and Bhat were moving through the area when security forces intercepted them.

“The joint operation was launched then because of intelligence inputs that Ganei and Bhatt, who worked together, planned to disrupt the Amarnath Yatra. This was part of Operation Sheruwali launched jointly by the forces. Bhatt managed to flee the cordon while Ganei was neutralised. Since then, security forces have pinned his involvement on the July 22 killing of the J&K head constable and the recent killing of the two migrants. He is the most wanted across J&K,” a senior security force officer said, adding that Bhatt is also being aided by other locals.

Officials also pointed to similarities between the July 22 killing of head constable Ashiq Hussain and that of the two migrants Bhupendra Bhaina and Deepak Ratre on Friday. The assailant in both cases was wearing a cap and carried the weapon in a gunny bag.

Eyewitnesses told investigators that the assailant in both cases fired at point-blank range.

Security agencies say little is known about how Bhatt joined the LeT, a poster circulated on social media by unidentified handles shows his joining the Kashmir Revolution Army (KRA) on November 17, 2025.

“All these months he was working with Lashkar commander Ganei. He has escaped twice, first during a similar joint operation launched in Anantnag district in the last week of December 2025. Ganei and Bhatt are both from the same district in south Kashmir’s Kulgam. Ganei had left his house in 2023.

Bhatt had left his house for some months in early 2025. This must be the period when he got radicalised and inducted into the KRA,” said the officer quoted earlier, adding that KRA is an LeT offshoot, similar to the Resistance Front, which LeT formed to deflect attention from Pakistan.