Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar’s brother Abdul Rauf Asghar was critically injured in Indian airstrikes carried out under Operation Sindoor in Pakistan’s Bahawalpur, according to intelligence sources.
Asghar, who is also the terror group’s second-in-command, is currently undergoing treatment at a Pakistani military hospital, the sources added.
The development follows a statement issued by the JeM chief in which he confirmed that 14 members of his family and four close aides were killed in the Indian strikes. According to a report by BBC Urdu, the dead include Azhar’s elder sister, her husband, his nephew and his wife, another niece, and five children, along with Azhar’s mother and three key aides.
In a swift and coordinated blitz lasting just 25 minutes, India carried out its most expansive cross-border strikes since Balakot, targeting nine terror facilities in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) early on Wednesday. The assault was launched in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 civilians — mostly tourists — were killed by Pakistan-backed terrorists.
Bahawalpur, a key base for JeM, was one of the primary targets of Operation Sindoor. Indian missiles struck the Subhan Allah complex, home to JeM’s Jamia Masjid and known locally as the Usman-o-Ali campus, reducing much of it to rubble. Visuals accessed by India Today confirmed widespread destruction at the site.
Located about 400 kilometres from Lahore, Bahawalpur is widely considered the operational heartland of Jaish-e-Mohammed. The group’s founder, Masood Azhar — a UN-designated terrorist — was born there and resides in a heavily fortified compound. He and his brother have not been seen in public in years.
