Months after India carried out 'Operation Sindoor,' targeting multiple terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri admitted that the family of JeM chief Masood Azhar was "torn into pieces" in strikes on the Bahawalpur camp on May 7.
It can be seen in the video how Kashmiri is surrounded by armed terrorists on stage during this confession. This clearly shows that the fear of Operation Sindoor has not yet gone out of the minds of Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists.
Watch the video here
"Embracing terrorism, we fought Delhi, Kabul and Kandahar for protecting the borders of this country. After sacrificing everything, on May 7 in Bahawalpur, Maulana Masood Azhar's family was torn into pieces by Indian forces," Kashmiri said.
Earlier in May, Azhar himself had said that 10 members of his family and four close aides were killed in an Indian Air Force strike on a vast complex in Punjab's Bahawalpur which was later identified as the headquarters of Jaish-e-Mohammad.
Operation Sindoor
The Indian armed forces carried out precision strikes on terrorist camps located in Pakistan's Punjab province and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) under Operation Sindoor. According to officials, four targets were hit in Punjab, home to the headquarters of terror groups Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, while five terror sites were destroyed in PoK.
One of the key strikes under Operation Sindoor targeted the Subhan Allah complex in Bahawalpur, a known hub of terrorist activity. The government clarified that the operation specifically targeted terror infrastructure and not any Pakistani military installations.
Bahawalpur is considered to be the stronghold of India's most wanted terrorist Masood Azhar. Moreover, there are reportedly four training centres of the terrorist organisation in Bahawalpur. Bahawalpur also has the headquarters of the Pakistan Army and an airbase. About 10 kilometres away from this, the terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed was running a training camp.
According to reports, Masood has two houses in Pakistan's Bahawalpur, with one located right next to the Osman-O-Ali Masjid. The second house of Masood is also located in Bahawalpur, nearly four kilometres away from the first. It also lies next to a mosque known as Jamia Mosque, and the Bahawalpur bench of the Lahore High Court is just a kilometre away from Masood's second home, while the District Collector's office is at a distance of just three kilometres away.
Who is Masood Azhar?
Masood Azhar remains one of India's most-wanted terrorists, with alleged involvement in several major attacks, including the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack and the 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing. Azhar was designated a global terrorist by the United Nations in 2019. His release in 1999 was secured through the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814, which was diverted to Kandahar.
India has long demanded Azhar's extradition, along with that of Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed. However, Pakistan has repeatedly denied its presence or freedom despite mounting evidence.
In May 2019, the United Nations designated Azhar a "global terrorist" after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist the JeM chief, a decade after New Delhi approached the world body for the first time on the issue.
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