New Delhi
Terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has, for the first time, admitted that family members of its chief, Masood Azhar, were killed during India’s Operation Sindoor, which targeted the group’s Bahawalpur headquarters on May 7.
In a viral video, top JeM commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri, flanked by armed personnel, acknowledged the heavy losses. “After sacrificing everything, on May 7, Maulana Masood Azhar’s family was torn into pieces by Indian forces in Bahawalpur,” Kashmiri declared, confirming weeks of speculation.
The strike, part of India’s retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that left 25 tourists dead, reduced Jaish’s Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah complex to rubble. At least 10 of Azhar’s relatives — including his sister, her husband, nephew, niece, and several children — were killed, along with four senior aides. Satellite images later revealed extensive structural damage to the mosque.
While Pakistan has never officially admitted the casualties, eyewitnesses and foreign reports said state funerals were held in May for Azhar’s family members. Azhar himself, rarely seen in public, reportedly made a brief appearance before slipping away.
A UN-designated terrorist, Azhar has masterminded several attacks in India, including the 2016 Pathankot and 2019 Pulwama strikes. Latest intelligence inputs accessed by Indian agencies suggest he was recently sighted in Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan — contradicting claims by former Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari that Azhar might be in Afghanistan.
Operation Sindoor marked India’s deepest airstrike inside Pakistan, hitting nine terror sites and exposing Islamabad’s denials.