Months after India’s Operation Sindoor targeted terror hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) commander has admitted that top leader Masood Azhar’s family was killed in the strikes.

In a viral video, JeM commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri can be heard recounting how Indian armed forces attacked their hideout.
"Embracing terrorism, we fought Delhi, Kabul, and Kandahar to protect the borders of this country. After sacrificing everything, on May 7, Maulana Masood Azhar's family was torn apart by Indian forces in Bahawalpur," he said in Urdu.

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Behind him, several armed men can be seen, lending weight to his admission.

At the same gathering, Kashmiri claimed that terror groups enjoyed the support of the Pakistan Army and its Chief Asim Munir. He even said, "Army sent generals to funerals" of those killed in the Indian strikes.

Reports from the region have also indicated that Pakistani military and civil officials attended funerals of terrorists eliminated in the operation.

The strikes were launched weeks after 26 civilians were killed in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam. In retaliation, Indian forces carried out coordinated overnight strikes on nine terrorist facilities in Pakistan and PoK.

The targets included strongholds of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), both UN-designated terror groups. Pakistan later admitted that locations in Bahawalpur, Kotli, and Muridke were hit, areas long known for extremist activity.

Bahawalpur, Pakistan’s 12th largest city, was among the main strike sites as it serves as the nerve centre of JeM operations. The group’s headquarters, the Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah (Usman-o-Ali campus), is located there.

Formed in the early 2000s by Masood Azhar, JeM has been linked to numerous attacks on Indian soil over the past two decades.

Pakistani media reported that Masood Azhar himself admitted that 10 members of his family were killed during Operation Sindoor. Azhar has remained in hiding for years.

Earlier this year, Pakistani politician Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said Islamabad was unaware of Azhar’s whereabouts but added that Pakistan would be “happy to” arrest him if India provided information confirming his presence on Pakistani soil.