Masood Azhar’s Brother Critically Injured In Indian Airstrikes, Being Treated At Military Hospital: Sources

Masood Azhar's brother, who is besides nan second-in-command of nan panic group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), was critically injured successful Indian airstrikes carried retired nether Operation Sindoor successful Pakistan’s Bahawalpur, intelligence sources person confirmed to India Today. He is presently receiving curen astatine a Pakistani subject hospital.

The improvement comes aft JeM main Masood Azhar issued a connection confirming that 14 members of his family and 4 of his adjacent aides were killed successful nan Indian strikes. According to a study by BBC Urdu, nan dormant see Azhar’s elder sister, her husband, his nephew and his wife, different niece, 5 children, his mother, and 3 cardinal aides.

The Indian Air Force launched Operation Sindoor successful nan early hours of Wednesday, striking 9 high-value panic sites crossed Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The 25-minute operation, India’s astir extended cross-border onslaught since Balakot, was carried retired successful retaliation for nan April 22 Pahalgam panic attack, which near 26 civilians, mostly tourists, dead.

One of nan cardinal targets was nan JeM stronghold successful Bahawalpur, Punjab—a metropolis agelong considered nan nervus centre of nan group’s operations. Indian missiles struck nan Subhan Allah complex, which houses JeM’s Jamia Masjid and is locally known arsenic nan Usman-o-Ali campus. Visuals accessed by India Today confirmed wide demolition astatine nan site, pinch awesome structures reduced to rubble.

The Bahawalpur installation has served arsenic JeM’s main training and indoctrination hub for decades. Intelligence reports bespeak that it was astatine this very location—Markaz Subhanallah—that nan Pulwama termination bombing of February 2019, which killed 40 CRPF personnel, was planned.

Masood Azhar, a UN-designated world terrorist, founded JeM successful January 2000 pinch nan backing of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Osama bin Laden, and Taliban leaders. He was released by India successful 1999 successful speech for nan passengers of nan hijacked IC-814 Indian Airlines flight.

India's strikes nether Operation Sindoor besides targeted different high-value locations, including nan Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Muridke guidelines successful Pakistan’s Punjab, nan JeM campy astatine Sarjal Tehra Kalan successful Narowal, and aggregate panic sites successful PoK—such arsenic Kotli, Muzaffarabad, Barnala, and Sialkot. According to officials, nan targets were selected based connected reliable intelligence and were camouflaged arsenic civilian accommodation to evade world scrutiny and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) oversight.

The Indian Defence Ministry said successful a statement, "A small while ago, nan Indian Armed Forces launched 'Operation Sindoor', hitting violent infrastructure successful Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from wherever violent attacks against India person been planned and directed." It added that India had "demonstrated sizeable restraint successful nan action of targets and method of execution."

Pakistan’s subject spokesperson confirmed to BBC that Bahawalpur and Muridke were among nan locations deed successful nan Indian airstrikes.

As specifications proceed to emerge, nan confirmation of Masood Azhar’s relative being critically wounded, and nan decease of aggregate family members, marks a awesome rustle to JeM’s activity structure—raising further questions astir nan group’s operational continuity and Pakistan’s continued sheltering of globally designated terrorists.