JeM chief Masood Azhar admits 10 family members killed in Operation Sindoor
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Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), has admitted that 10 of his family members and four associates were killed in India's targeted military strikes on Wednesday morning, reported BBC Urdu.
India conducted the military strikes under 'Operation Sindoor' two weeks after the Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians. Nine terrorist sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) were targeted in the operation, which included Bahawalpur, where Azhar's family members were reportedly killed.
A statement attributed to Azhar said those killed in the attack on Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur included the JeM chief's elder sister and her husband, a nephew and his wife, another niece, and five children from his extended family.
The statement further mentioned that the attack also claimed the lives of one of Azhar's close associates and his mother, along with two other close companions.
Bahawalpur, Pakistan's 12th largest city, reportedly serves as the centre for Jaish-e-Mohammad, the terrorist group responsible for several attacks in India. The city is located nearly 400 km from Lahore, and houses Jaish-e-Mohammad's operational headquarters at the Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah, also known as the Usman-o-Ali campus.
Markaz Subhan Allah has been operational since 2015, and the facility has been used for training and radicalisation. It houses a central mosque, madrassa for more than 600 students along with a swimming pool, and a gymnasium.
Before 2011, the Markaz Subhan Allah was publicly presented as a religious seminary; however, later, it was transformed into a facility as a training facility.
Who is Masood Azhar
JeM's founder, Maulana Masood Azhar, has been a central figure in the history of terrorism in South Asia. Born in 1968 in Bahawalpur, Azhar served as a cleric in Harkat-ul-Mujahideen before his arrest in 1994 by the Indian authorities. He was designated a global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council in May 2019.
Azhar has been responsible for multiple terror attacks in India after the establishment of Jaish-e-Mohammad in 2000. Some of these attacks include the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2019 Pulwama attack targeting Indian soldiers, and the 2016 attack on the Pathankot airbase.
Other Latest News
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Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday called an urgent meeting of chief ministers, chief secretaries and DGPs of states having borders with Pakistan and Nepal.
The meeting has been called in the wake of the strikes carried out by the Indian armed forces on terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir as a retaliatory action against the Pahalgam terror attack, sources said.
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Over 200 flights have been cancelled and at least 18 airports in northern and western India have been shut temporarily following airspace restrictions imposed after India carried out precision strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) early Wednesday morning.
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The government on Wednesday said that "India exercised its right to self-defence" in reference to Operation Sindoor.
In a press conference, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that India has found conclusive evidence of Pakistan’s involvement in the recent Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives.
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In an escalation of cross-border tensions, India launched a coordinated May 7 midnight assault on nine terror camps inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), marking one of the most expansive retaliatory strikes in recent memory. Codenamed ‘Operation Sindoor,’ the high-precision offensive was carried out by all three branches of the armed forces in response to the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 tourists, signalling a new phase in India’s counter-terror doctrine.
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India carried out precision strikes at terrorist camps in both Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir in the early hours of Wednesday, in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack, according to a Ministry of Defence (MoD) statement. A total of nine sites were targeted by the Indian armed forces.
“A little while ago, the Indian armed forces launched ‘Operation Sindoor’, hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed,” said the MoD.
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