New Delhi: In a rare admission, a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) commander has acknowledged that Indian forces “tore into pieces” the family of terror mastermind Masood Azhar during strikes in Bahawalpur under Operation Sindoor. In a viral video circulating on social media, JeM commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri is heard recalling the May 7 assault, describing how Indian forces stormed their hideout.

“Embracing terrorism, we fought Delhi, Kabul and Kandahar for protecting the borders of this country.

After sacrificing everything, on May 7, Maulana Masood Azhar’s family was torn apart by Indian forces in Bahawalpur,” Kashmiri said in Urdu, as armed men stood in the background.

The strikes, as part of Operation Sindoor, were carried out by the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force in retaliation to the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians, mostly tourists.