Operation Keller, Significance, Terror Operatives, Key Details

Operation Keller was conducted on 13th May 2025 which led to the killing of Shahid Kuttay, the chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba proxy The Resistance Front, the terrorist group behind the pahalgam attack. The encounter took place with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district. Two other terrorists were gunned down during Operation Keller. 

Operation Keller

On 13 May 2025, acting on specific intelligence provided by a Rashtriya Rifles unit, the Indian Army launched a search and destroy operation in the Shoekal Keller area of Shopian district, South Kashmir. The operation aimed to neutralize terrorists reportedly hiding in the region.

As the security forces initiated a cordon and search, the terrorists opened heavy fire, prompting a fierce firefight. In the ensuing exchange, three hardcore terrorists affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were eliminated. Their bodies were later recovered from dense vegetation in the forested area.

One of the slain terrorists, Kuttay, was a key operative involved in multiple high-profile attacks:

• The firing incident at Danish Resort on 8 April 2024, which injured two German tourists and a local driver.
• The assassination of a BJP Sarpanch at Heerpora, Shopian on 18 May 2024.
• The killing of a Territorial Army personnel at Behibagh, Kulgam on 3 February 2025.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police had previously released sketches and identities of the three terrorists believed to be involved in the Pahalgam Terror Attack, with a bounty of ₹20 lakh announced for each. 

Operation Keller Terror Operatives

Operation Keller marks a significant success in India’s counter-terrorism efforts in the region, neutralizing individuals involved in multiple violent incidents and ensuring greater security in South Kashmir. The terrorists neutralized in the operation were identified as Hussain Thokar, a resident of Anantnag; Ali Bhai, also known as Talha Bhai; and Hasim Musa, alias Suleiman. While Thokar was a local Kashmiri, Musa and Talha are believed to be Pakistani nationals affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

This operation follows closely after India’s major success in Operation Sindoor, where precision strikes eliminated nearly 100 terror operatives across key terror hubs in Pakistan. High-value targets included Bahawalpur, the Jaish-e-Mohammed headquarters, and Muridke, a major training base of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Also Read: The Resistance Front

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Lashkar-e-Taiba 

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is a Pakistan-based Islamist militant group founded in the late 1980s as the armed wing of Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad, an organization influenced by the Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam. Its core objective is to establish Islamic rule across the entire Indian subcontinent. Though originally focused on operations in Jammu and Kashmir, LeT expanded its reach across India by the early 2000s.

The group emerged amid the territorial conflict between India and Pakistan over Jammu and Kashmir, a region claimed by both countries. Over the years, LeT has become one of the largest and most active terror outfits in the region, firmly aligned with pro-Pakistan interests and opposed to any negotiations with India. Its members have carried out numerous attacks, often targeting non-Muslim civilian populations, in pursuit of creating an Islamic state.

LeT's ranks largely comprise Pakistani and Afghan nationals, and the group is believed to have had close ties with the Taliban in Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda. Its operatives were present in bin Laden’s Afghan training camps struck by U.S. cruise missiles in August 1998, and in 2002, a senior al-Qaeda figure was captured from a LeT safe house in Pakistan.

Lashkar-e-Taiba has been designated a terrorist organization by India, the United Nations, and multiple countries including the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.