Operation Sindoor killed 10 of JeM chief Masood Azhar’s family in Bahawalpur

Lahore, May 7: The chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) Maulan Masood Azhar, on Wednesday, confirmed that ten of his family members and four others were killed in his Headquarter in Bahawalpur, Pakistan, in Operation Sindoor.

In a statement attributed to Azhar detailed that the Indian strike on the Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah resulted in the deaths of several relatives, including his elder sister and her husband, a nephew and his wife, a niece, and five children from his extended family. The statement also noted the deaths of a close aide and his mother, along with two other associates.

"This act of brutality has broken all boundaries. There should be no expectation of mercy now," it added.

Bahawalpur has long served as a stronghold for JeM since Azhar’s release in 1999, following the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814. The United Nations designated Masood Azhar a "global terrorist" in May 2019, after China lifted its decade-long hold on India's proposal.

The elusive Azhar, who has not been seen in public since April 2019, is believed to be hiding in a "safe place" in Bahawalpur.

The group has been involved in a series of terror attacks in India, including the Parliament attack in 2001, the strike on the Jammu and Kashmir assembly in 2000, the attack on the IAF base in Pathankot in 2016 and the Pulwama suicide bombing in 2019.

Meanwhile, Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari confirmed that all injured victims of the Bahawalpur strike have been shifted to Victoria Hospital and are receiving top medical care.

The Pakistan military reported that the attack claimed 26 lives and left 46 others injured.

Hours after the launch of Operation Sindoor — a tri-services strike on nine terror hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) — India issued a firm and final message to cross-border terror networks – “No more”.

In the early hours of Wednesday the Indian Army successfully executed “Operation Sindoor”, hitting nine high-value terror targets deep inside Pakistan, in response to the Phalgam terror attack which killed 26 civilians.

The Indian government confirmed that all nine targets - four are in Pakistan and five in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) - were successfully struck, with no civilian or military infrastructure in Pakistan being affected.

-PTI