Afghanistan Times
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KABUL – India has claimed that Abdul Rauf Azhar, a senior leader of the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and brother of the group’s founder Masood Azhar, was killed during retaliatory airstrikes on May 7 targeting militant infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
According to Indian officials, Abdul Rauf Azhar was killed in a missile strike on a religious seminary in Bahawalpur — known to be JeM’s stronghold and headquarters. While JeM chief Masood Azhar confirmed the deaths of ten family members and four close associates, he did not specifically name his brother among the dead.
The strikes, conducted under Operation Sindhoor, were launched in response to the April 22 terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 26 tourists. India targeted alleged state-sponsored terror camps across six Pakistani cities.
Azhar, designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the U.S. in 2010, played a key operational and recruitment role in JeM, orchestrating suicide attacks in India and managing the group’s training camps.
JeM, supported by Pakistan’s military and intelligence services, has been linked to major terrorist attacks including the 2001 Indian Parliament assault, the 2016 Pathankot Air Base raid, and the 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing.
