10 family members of Jaish chief killed in ‘Operation Sindoor’

Maulana Masood Azhar, the chief of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), on Wednesday admitted that 10 of his family members and four associates were killed in India's “Operation Sindoor”.

An Urdu statement attributed to Azhar stated those killed in the attack on Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur included the JeM chief's elder sister and her husband, a nephew and his wife, another niece, and five children from his extended family. It also mentioned that the attack also claimed the lives of one of Azhar's close associates and his mother, along with two other close companions.

Bahawalpur, Pakistan's 12th largest city, as per security agencies serves as the centre for JEM, the terror group responsible for several attacks in India. The city is located nearly 400 km from Lahore, and houses JeM's operational headquarters at the Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah, also known as the Usman-o-Ali campus.

Markaz Subhan Allah has been operational since 2015, and the facility has been used for training and radicalisation. It houses a central mosque, madrassa for more than 600 students along with a swimming pool, and a gymnasium.

Before 2011, the Markaz Subhan Allah was publicly presented as a religious seminary. However, it was later transformed into a facility as a training facility.

Azhar has been a central figure in the history of terrorism against India. Born in 1968 in Bahawalpur, Azhar served as a cleric in Harkat-ul-Mujahideen before his arrest in 1994 by the Indian authorities. He was designated a global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council in May 2019.

Azhar has been responsible for multiple terror attacks in India after the establishment of Jaish-e-Mohammad in 2000. Some of these attacks include the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2019 Pulwama attack targeting Indian soldiers, and the 2016 attack on the Pathankot airbase.