Lashkar's Muridke HQ chief among 140 terrorists killed in Operation Sindoor

Time of India

10-05-2025

NEW DELHI: India's Operation Sindoor, conducted on the night of May 6 and 7, resulted in the elimination of around a dozen high-value terrorists in Pakistan, including IC-814 hijacker
Yusuf Azhar
, chief of Lashkar's Muridke headquarters Abu Jundal aka Mudassar, and the son of the 2016 Nagrota attack plotter.
Sources termed the deaths of the jihadi commanders as a severe setback to Pakistan's military-terror nexus, adding that fresh estimates show that at least 130-140 terrrorists were killed in the strikes India launched to avenge Pahalgam killings.
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The precision strikes also exposed the thin veil that had been long placed between the Pakistani govt and its terror proxies with the funerals of jihadi A-listers being attended by the military-political establishment.
This time, message was clear: India knows where to find & hit terrorists
Mudassar, the head of LeT's headquarters at Muridike and one of the most notorious figures among the killed, received a guard of honour by Pakistan army at his funeral.
Indian intelligence has gathered video evidence, which prove that a wreath was laid on behalf of Pak army chief Asim Munir and Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz. "His funeral prayer was held in a govt school. A serving Lt General of Pakistan army and IG of Punjab Police attended the prayer," a senior intelligence officer said.
Another high-value target was Yusuf Azhar, who went by the alias of Ustad and was a wanted man with an Interpol Red Notice. He was a brother-in-law of Maulana Masood Azhar, who had covertly entered India using a fake passport arranged by his handler Abdul Latif, prior to the 1998 Kandahar hijacking.
India had formally requested Pakistan to take action against him, listing him as a wanted terrorist in 2002. However, he had continued to operate from
Jaish-e-Mohammed
's Markaz Subhan Allah at Bahawalpur, which was destroyed in the strikes. Masood Azhar's eldest brother-in-law Hafiz Muhammed Jameel was also killed in the strikes, sources confirmed. He was in charge of the Markaz at Bahawalpur.
The other high-value target was Abu Akasha alias Khalid, affiliated with
Lashkar-e-Taiba
. He was involved in multiple terrorist attacks in J&K and was engaged in weapons smuggling from Afghanistan, sources said. "His funeral was held in Faisalabad and attended by senior Pakistani army officials and deputy commissioner of Faisalabad," said a senior officer.
The Indian
surgical strike
also resulted in the elimination of Jaish's Mohammad Hassan Khan, son of Mufti Asghar Khan Kashmiri, operational commander of JeM in POK. He played a key role in coordinating terrorist attacks in J&K, including the Nagrota attack.
"This time, the message was loud and clear: India knows where to find the perpetrators of heinous attacks, from Parliament in 2001 to the Pahalgam attack. The carefully drawn list of targets effectively communicated that India can strike at will, settling a two-decade-old score," the officer added.
The biggest outcome of Operation Sindoor was the destruction of Muridke and Bahawalpur - terror sanctuaries that thrived for decades.
Markaz Subhan Allah, JeM's primary hub for training and indoctrination of jihadis, was spread across 15 acres. It was here that Maulana Masood Azhar had resurfaced on Nov 30, 2024, addressing cadres for the first time in two years. His speech reiterated anti-India rhetoric, vowing revenge for construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
Over a dozen major terror strikes, including the 2019 Pulwama attack, were planned here. The perpetrators of the Pulwama attack had even trained at this facility, which was home to over 600 cadres and hosted regular training sessions for JeM members.
India had dealt the first major blow to the Pak-sponsored terror factories in 2019 by bombing terror camps at Balakot, regarded as the 'first launchpad for jihad'.