Who Is Abdul Rauf Asghar, JeM Chief Masood Azhar's Brother Killed In Operation Sindoor?

In a major achievement to the Indian armed forces, Abdul Rauf Azhar, brother of Jaishe-Mohammad Chief Masood Azhar, was killed in Operation Sindoor carried out by the Indian armed forces on Wednesday.

Abdul Rauf Asghar Dead

Ten family members of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar were killed in air strikes and Abdul Rauf is also dead."Among those reported eliminated is Abdul Rauf Azhar - operational head of Jaishe-Mohammad, mastermind of the IC-814 hijacking, and a central figure in international jihadist networks," News18 quoted the officials as saying.

Multiple reports claimed that his brother-in-law and elder sister have also been killed as India attacked nine terror base in the PoK and Pakistan in the wee hours of Wednesday.

The armed forces used stand-off weapons, drones and precision munitions, besides other weapons in the strike, according to a report in PTI.

Who Is Abdul Rauf Asghar?

A hardline cleric and jihadist, Rauf Azhar had remained the JeM's supreme commander since 2007 after his brother went into hiding with Pakistan's intelligence support. He was one of India's most-wanted terrorists for his role in multiple attacks, including:

IC-814 Hijacking (1999): Orchestrated the week-long crisis to secure the release of 36 militants, including his brother Masood Azhar.

Parliament Attack (2001), Daniel Pearl Murder (2002), 26/11 Mumbai Attacks (2008), Pathankot (2016), Pulwama (2019): JeM, under his leadership, was linked to these major terror strikes.

The U.S. had designated Rauf Azhar a terrorist in 2010, citing his ties to transnational jihad. India's latest operation marks a significant blow to Pakistan-based terror infrastructure and avenges years of attacks on Indian soil.

Meanwhile, India, on Wednesday, launched Operation Sindoor as a retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack in Kashmir. 26 civilians, mostly Hindus, were shot dead by the terrorists.

In the air strikes carried out on nine terrorist infrastructures, the Indian armed forces killed over 80 terrorist,s including 10 members of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Defence said that Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets in Northern and Western India, including Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uti-rlai, and Bhuj, using drones and missiles. These were neutralised by the Integrated Counter UAS Grid and Air Defence systems.