Months after Operation Sindoor, a Jaish-e-Mohamad (JeM) commander has admitted that the family of Masood Azhar, the terror group’s top commander, was “torn into pieces” in strikes on Bahawalpur.
Jaish-e-Mohammad’s top commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri has appeared in a viral video acknowledging that India’s counterterror offensive, Operation Sindoor, shredded the family of terror group chief Maulana Masood Azhar. The May 7 strike, aimed at JeM’s headquarters Markaz Subhanallah in Bahawalpur, was part of a massive retaliatory campaign following the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 that claimed 26 civilian lives.
Speaking in a high-pitched tone into a microphone, flanked by gunmen, Ilyas admitted, “In defending this land, we embraced militancy and fought in Delhi, Kabul and Kandahar to protect its borders. After giving everything, on May 7, Indian forces struck in Bahawalpur, tearing apart the family of Maulana Masood Azhar.”
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The Bahawalpur facility, located on NH-5, has long been JeM’s command hub, with over 600 cadres trained there. It has hosted major terror operations, including the 2019 Pulwama attack, which was plotted and executed from this very site.
Operation Sindoor
Operation Sindoor, executed in response to the Pahalgam massacre, targeted nine major terror hubs across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Apart from JeM’s Bahawalpur HQ, India also struck Lashkar-e-Taiba’s headquarters in Muridke. The attacks obliterated multiple facilities accused of harbouring anti-India terror infrastructure.
Pakistan retaliated with drones and missile strikes over consecutive nights, but India’s air defence systems neutralised them, averting casualties. In the second wave of retaliation, Indian forces carried out precision strikes on Pakistan’s airbases, including Nur Khan and Rahim Yar Khan, marking a sharp escalation in hostilities.