In the early hours of Wednesday, Indian forces conducted missile attacks targeting the headquarters of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist groups in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, according to official sources.
The targeted locations included the JeM headquarters in Bahawalpur and the LeT’s headquarters in Muridke, both situated in Pakistan’s Punjab province. A spokesperson for the Pakistani armed forces confirmed these strikes to the BBC.
The Indian Defence Ministry, in a statement released at 1:44 am, announced “Operation Sindoor,” stating that the strikes were aimed at terrorist infrastructure from where attacks against India have been planned and executed. The ministry emphasized that India’s actions were “focused, measured and non-escalatory” and did not target any Pakistani military installations.
This action comes two weeks after the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, which resulted in the deaths of 26 people.
Bahawalpur became the central hub for JeM after the release of its leader, Masood Azhar, in exchange for the hijacked passengers of IC-814 in 1999. Since then, JeM has been implicated in numerous terror attacks in India, including the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2000 Jammu and Kashmir assembly attack, the 2016 attack on the Pathankot IAF base, and the 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing. Azhar, a designated global terrorist, has not been publicly seen since April 2019. Officials reported that he established the terror outfit in January 2000 with support from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), then-Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, and Sunni sectarian groups in Pakistan.
Muridke, located approximately 30 km from Lahore, has served as the headquarters of LeT since 1990. The group is headed by Hafiz Saeed and is responsible for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. LeT has also carried out terror strikes in various other parts of India, including Jammu and Kashmir, Bangalore, and Hyderabad, according to officials. Saeed, the alleged mastermind of LeT, which is designated as a terror group by the United Nations Security Council, is on India’s most wanted list.
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