Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar has claimed that 10 of his family members, including his elder sister, her husband, nephew, niece, and five children, along with four close aides, were killed when Indian armed forces struck the group’s stronghold in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. The strikes, carried out in the early hours of May 7, 2025, were part of India’s coordinated response to the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians, including one Nepali national.
Operation Sindoor saw 24 precision missile strikes delivered in just 25 minutes, hitting nine terror camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), including Jaish-e-Mohammad’s headquarters and madrasa at Bahawalpur. Indian officials have emphasized that the operation was “focused, measured, and non-escalatory,” targeting only terrorist infrastructure and avoiding Pakistani military or civilian facilities. According to Indian sources, over 70 terrorists were killed and more than 60 wounded, significantly degrading the operational capacity of groups like JeM and Lashkar-e-Taiba.
In a statement released from Bahawalpur’s ul-Allah Jama Masjid, Masood Azhar detailed the loss of his family members and aides, painting the strike as a deliberate attack on civilians. Pakistani authorities have echoed these claims, with official statements alleging that up to 26 people, including civilians, died in the strikes. However, Indian officials have pushed back, stressing that all targets were carefully vetted and directly linked to terrorist activity.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, in a press briefing, accused Pakistan of “wilfully misleading” the international community, citing previous incidents where Pakistan falsely declared terrorists dead to evade international scrutiny. Misri referenced the case of LeT terrorist Sajid Mir, who was declared dead and later found alive and arrested under global pressure, as evidence of Islamabad’s duplicity.
While Pakistan claims civilian casualties, Indian officials maintain that collateral damage was minimized through precision targeting and that any civilian deaths are a consequence of terrorist groups embedding themselves in populated areas. Independent verification remains difficult, with both sides presenting sharply different narratives to the global community.