A Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) commander recently made a big statement and said that Indian armed forces destroyed the family of Masood Azhar during recent strikes in Pakistan’s Bahawalpur. Notably, the Operation Sindoor was launched after the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.
A viral video on social media shows JeM commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri recalling the May 7 assault. Speaking in Urdu with armed men behind him, he said, according to Hindustan Times, “After sacrificing everything, on May 7, Maulana Masood Azhar’s family was torn apart by Indian forces in Bahawalpur.” NewsX can’t independently verify the video.
The strikes during Operation Sindoor were carried out jointly by the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians, most of them tourists. Indian forces targeted nine terror facilities linked to JeM, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen in Bahawalpur, Kotli and Muridke.
Notably, Bahawalpur was among the main targets as it houses JeM’s headquarters at Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah, also called the Usman-o-Ali campus. JeM, founded by UN-proscribed terrorist Masood Azhar in the early 2000s, has been behind several major terror strikes in India.
Pakistani reports later quoted Azhar admitting that 10 members of his family, including his sister, brother-in-law, nephew, niece and children, were killed.
Four close aides also died. Among them was Mohammad Yusuf Azhar, Azhar’s brother-in-law, wanted for the 1999 IC-814 hijacking. He was a senior JeM figure and weapons trainer, long sought by Indian agencies.
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Shivam Verma is a journalist with over three years of experience in digital newsrooms. He currently works at NewsX, having previously worked for Firstpost and DNA India. A postgraduate diploma holder in Integrated Journalism from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, Shivam focuses on international affairs, diplomacy, defence, and politics. Beyond the newsroom, he is passionate about football—both playing and watching—and enjoys travelling to explore new places and cuisines.
