UN report flags The Resistance Front’s role in Pahalgam attack, links to Lashkar-e-Tayyiba

The Resistance Front (TRF) twice claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam terror attack and even “published a photograph of the attack site,” the UN Security Council’s sanctions monitoring team has said, PTI reported.

In its 36th report on ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaeda and associated entities, released on Tuesday, the team mentioned the April 22 Pahalgam attack in Jammu and Kashmir in which 26 civilians were killed, saying “five terrorists attacked a tourist spot in Pahalgam.”

“The attack was claimed that same day by The Resistance Front (TRF), who in parallel published a photograph of the attack site,” the report said, adding that the “claim of responsibility” was “repeated the following day. On 26 April, however, TRF retracted its claim. There was no further communication from TRF, and no other group claimed responsibility.”

The report cited a member state that said “the attack could not have happened without Lashkar-e-Tayyiba support, and that there was a relationship between LeT and TRF. Another member state said that the attack was carried out by TRF, which was synonymous with LeT.” One member state, however, “rejected” these claims and said LeT was “defunct.”

The report noted that regional tensions remain fragile, warning: “There is a risk that terrorist groups may exploit these regional tensions.”

Earlier this month, the US designated TRF as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and Specially Designated Global Terrorist.Following the attack, the UN Security Council issued a statement on April 25 calling for accountability for the perpetrators, but TRF was not named after Pakistan opposed its inclusion, PTI reported.External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told Parliament on Monday that Pakistan pushed to exclude any mention of TRF in the UN statement. India later launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ against terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation.

The report also said ISIL-K remains the most serious threat in Central and South Asia, with around 2,000 fighters recruiting within Afghanistan and beyond. It noted ISIL-K’s indoctrination of minors, Al-Qaeda-linked training camps, and close coordination between Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and groups like the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).

The report highlighted rising TTP attacks and growing ambitions of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).