In a significant admission, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri has publicly confirmed that the family of the terror group’s chief, Maulana Masood Azhar, was devastated during India’s Operation Sindoor, describing it as being “torn into pieces” in strikes on the outfit’s headquarters in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. This marks the first detailed acknowledgment from within JeM ranks months after the May 7, 2025, operation, validating India’s precision strikes against terror infrastructure.
The revelation came in a viral video where Kashmiri, flanked by armed guards, addressed an event, stating: “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.” He highlighted the casualties among Azhar’s relatives, including his sister, her husband, nephew, niece, and children from the extended family, alongside 10 relatives and four aides killed overall.
Operation Sindoor was launched by the Indian armed forces on May 7, 2025, in retaliation to the April 27 Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, where Pakistan-backed militants killed 26 civilians, mostly tourists. The strikes targeted nine terror facilities linked to JeM, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and Hizbul Mujahideen across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), including the key Subhan Allah complex in Bahawalpur—JeM’s nerve center. Satellite imagery later revealed extensive damage to the mosque’s dome and internal structures, though Pakistan denied significant casualties at the time.
Azhar himself had initially confirmed the losses in a statement shortly after the strikes, admitting that 10 family members and four close associates perished, with no regret expressed: “Time for their departure had come, but the Lord did not kill them.” He even invited people to funeral prayers in Bahawalpur. Despite this, Pakistani authorities and media downplayed the impact, but eyewitnesses reported state funerals for Azhar’s kin in May.
JeM, founded by Azhar in 2000 after his release in the 1999 IC-814 hijacking, is responsible for major attacks on India, including the 2001 Parliament assault, 2016 Pathankot airbase raid, and 2019 Pulwama bombing that killed 40 CRPF personnel. Azhar, a UN-designated global terrorist, remains a prime target for India. This latest admission by Kashmiri underscores the operation’s success in dismantling terror networks and exposes Pakistan’s alleged duplicity in harboring such groups, especially amid scrutiny from bodies like the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
