India’s-Precision-Airstrikes-Kill-Masood-Azhar’s-Kin,-JeM-Aides-in-BahawalpurMasood Azhar calls slain family "guests of Allah," shows no regret

 

Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) commander Maulana Masood Azhar has confirmed that 14 people, including 10 relatives of his and four of his close aides, were eliminated during India’s retaliatory targeted strikes under Operation Sindoor following the heinous Pahalgam terror attack, which left 26 innocent victims. The acknowledgement was quoted by news outlets such as PTI and BBC Urdu.

The airstrikes, executed by the Indian Armed Forces, hit nine terrorist locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and included the JeM headquarters in Bahawalpur, a bastion of the banned terror outfit.

 

"My Family Members are Guests of Allah"

 

The statement made by the JeM chief, who was let go in a hostage exchange following the 1999 IC 814 hijacking, indicates that the airstrike on Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah, or the Usman-o-Ali campus, killed his older sister, her husband, a nephew and his wife, a niece, five children from his extended family, and four of his aides.

“Ten members of my family were blessed with this happiness together tonight...five are pure children, my older sister, her respectable husband, my learned nephew and his wife, my dearest niece…my dear brother Huzaifah, and his mother. Two other beloved friends,” the JeM leader claimed in the message. He mentioned that he had ‘no despair nor regret,’ and wished to have become part of the ‘fourteen-member joyful caravan.”

 

Precision Strikes and Civilian Casualties

 

Indian authorities confirmed that 24 precision-guided missiles were employed in the operation. The government reported that all attempts were made to limit civilian casualties, targeting sites directly associated with terrorist infrastructure and selecting late-night hours to avoid civilian presence.

“Even as terrorist outfits planted their installations in civilian areas, collateral damage was considerably contained,” a senior government official said, stating that the images from the strikes indicate damage was confined to important compounds.

 

JeM Bahawalpur Base: A Longtime Terror Hub

 

Bahawalpur, the 12th largest city in Pakistan, has been a nerve hub of JeM activity for a long time. The Markaz Subhan Allah campus, functional since 2015, has been both a madrassa with more than 600 students and a training center, well-equipped with a mosque, gym, and swimming pool. Indian intelligence agencies have monitored it as a hub for radicalization and terror plotting.

 

Azhar: A History of Terror

 

Masood Azhar was among South Asia’s most wanted terrorists and was declared a global terrorist by the UN Security Council in 2019. He was associated with numerous high-profile attacks on India, ranging from the 2001 Parliament attack to the 2016 Pathankot attack and the 2019 Pulwama bombing.
Even as Islamabad has repeatedly denied this, it has long been an open secret that Azhar is based in Pakistan, protected from global action.