Watch | Jaish Leader Exposes Pak On Op Sindoor, Says 'Masood Azhar's Family Torn Apart'

Months after India conducted a series of attacks on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) under 'Operation Sindoor', a top commander of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has come forward with the information that the family of the group's chief, Masood Azhar, was "torn into pieces" when the Bahawalpur attacks were conducted.

JeM commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri explains it all in a viral online video in which he tells how Indian forces found and attacked their hideout.

"Adopting terrorism, we warred Delhi, Kabul and Kandahar for safeguarding the frontiers of this nation. After losing everything, on May 7, Maulana Masood Azhar's household was broken and Indian forces dispersed Bahawalpur," Kashmiri declared in Urdu, as several armed personnel stand behind him.

The attacks followed weeks of a terrorist attack on Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, in which 26 civilians were killed. As part of 'Operation Sindoor', Indian security forces launched coordinated attacks during the night on nine terror camps across Pakistan and PoK, targeting the deep-seated setup of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Pakistan went on to acknowledge that nine targets were hit, including areas within Bahawalpur, Kotli, and Muridke, all infamous for extremist activity.

Bahawalpur, Pakistan's 12th biggest city, was also a priority target because it is JeM's operational base. Located around 400 km from Lahore, it has the group's headquarters at Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah or the Usman-o-Ali campus.

Founded in the early 2000s when UN-proscribed terrorist Masood Azhar appealed for jihad in Kashmir, JeM has launched many attacks on Indian soil in the last two decades. After Operation Sindoor, Masood Azhar accepted that 10 of his family members were targeted in the strikes according to Pakistani media. Azhar himself has long been living in hiding, with Pakistani politician Bilawal Bhutto Zardari saying that Islamabad does not know where he is. In an interview conducted in June, Bhutto Zardari stated that Pakistan would be "happy to" arrest him if India presents proof that he is on Pakistani territory.