New Delhi: During a heated debate in the Lok Sabha Tuesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah revealed the names of ten high-profile terrorists killed in Operation Sindoor, the Indian Armed Forces’ precision military strikes inside Pakistan-occupied-India in May.
In his detailed address, Shah said the operation which was a direct response to the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, was one where “India went deep inside Pakistan and attacked 9 terrorist camps—Markaz Subhanallah in Bahawalpur, Markaz Tayyaba in Muridke, Mehmoona Joya camp in Sialkot, Sarja camp in Sialkot, Sawai Nala camp in Muzaffarabad, Syedna Bilal camp in Muzaffarabad, Gulpur camp in Kotli, Barnala camp in Bhimber and Abbas camp in Kotli.”
Calling it a controlled act where “no civilians were hurt”, Shah named 10 senior Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed operatives who were killed. Among those confirmed killed was Hafiz Muhammad Jameel, brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar. Other high-ranking terrorists killed in the strike included Yaqoob Malik, Mohammad Yusuf Azhar, Mohammad Hasan Khan, Abdul Malik, and Khalid, also known as Abu Aqs.
He also named Mudassar Khadian Khas (aka Abu Jundal), Yaqoob Malik, Hamza Jaleel and Noem Malik.
While naming them, Shah added that “eight of the ten” had direct links to the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that left over 160 people dead and hundreds wounded.
“The ones who were spared during the Congress era have now been targetted and killed,” he told Parliament.
Who were they?
Among the most prominent names Shah listed was Hafiz Muhammed Jameel, the oldest brother-in-law of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar. Jameel was in charge of Markaz Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur, Pakistan, a key recruitment centre for JeM. He was reportedly heavily involved in fundraising for the group and played a significant role in radicalising youth across Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Also killed in the operation was Mohammad Yusuf Azhar, another brother-in-law of Masood Azhar. A seasoned JeM commander, Yusuf Azhar was wanted by Indian authorities for his involvement in the 1999 IC-814 hijacking. Known by several aliases, including Ustad Ji, he ran weapons training programmes for JeM and oversaw armed attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mudassar Khadian Khas, better known as Abu Jundal, was a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander and head of Markaz Taiba in Muridke, Pakistan, which is widely regarded as LeT’s ideological nerve centre. He played a logistical and operational role in multiple cross-border infiltrations into India and is believed to have overseen training programmes for the Mumbai attackers.
Khas received a state-like funeral, according to Indian intelligence reports. His funeral prayer was held in a government school and was led by Hafiz Abdul Rauf, a UN-designated terrorist and senior Jamaat-ul-Dawa (JuD) leader. A serving Lt General of the Pakistan Army, the Inspector General of Punjab Police, and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz reportedly attended the ceremony.
Khalid, also known as Abu Aqs, was a senior LeT operative with deep connections to arms smuggling networks operating out of Afghanistan. His role included coordinating the transfer of high-grade weapons and explosives to militants in Kashmir. He had also been linked to multiple ambushes on Indian paramilitary forces. His funeral in Faisalabad was also reportedly attended by senior Pakistani Army officers and local government officials.
The remaining six—Yaqoob Malik, Hamza Jaleel, Hassan Khan, Abdul Malik, Noem Malik, and Mohammad Hasan Khan—were identified as mid-to high-level commanders within JeM and LeT networks.
LeT and JeM networks
LeT is a Pakistan-based terrorist group founded in 1986 as the armed wing of the preaching centre Markaz Dawat-ul Irshad. It came into the spotlight after its operatives carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people, including foreign nationals.
LeT promotes the establishment of a global Islamic caliphate and the “liberation” of Muslim lands through preaching and armed jihad. While it operates heavily in Kashmir, its anti-India agenda is broader. The group’s leader, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed was jailed in 2019 for terror financing.
Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), another key militant group, was founded by Masood Azhar after his release from Indian custody in 1999. Pakistan officially banned it in 2002 following its alleged role in the Indian Parliament attack, though it maintained links with al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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