Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of the banned group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), has claimed that ten of his family members and four close associates were killed in an Indian airstrike targeting a mosque in Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Azhar said the victims included his elder sister and her husband, a nephew and his wife, another niece, and five children from his family. He also named a close aide, that person’s mother, and two other associates as among the dead.
The attack took place late Tuesday night. Azhar accused India of carrying out the strike and criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the action “broke all the rules” and warning that “no one should hope for mercy now.”
The strike in Bahawalpur was part of Operation Sindoor, a cross-border operation by the Indian Armed Forces that targeted terror camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. According to Indian security sources, over 80 terrorists were killed in the strikes.
The most intense attacks took place in Bahawalpur and Muridke, where 25–30 terrorists were reportedly killed at each site. The strike on Bahawalpur hit the Markaz Subhan Allah, which served as JeM’s headquarters.
Colonel Sofiya Qureshi of the Indian Army presented video evidence showing the destruction at several targeted sites, including those linked to the 2008 Mumbai attacks. One key target was Masjid wa Markaz Taiba in Muridke, known as the ideological base of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
India launched the operation in response to the recent Pahalgam terror attack, in which 25 Indian civilians and one Nepali national were killed. Victims were executed at close range in front of their families. India has blamed The Resistance Front, which officials say is a proxy for LeT.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said the strikes were “focused, measured, and non-escalatory.” He confirmed that no Pakistani military facilities were hit. “We targeted only terrorist infrastructure,” Misri stated.
He added that communication records from the Pahalgam attack traced back to Pakistan and showed clear links to banned terror groups. The government said the operation was intended to prevent further attacks and maintain security in the region.
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