Terror Hotbeds in Pakistan Turns into Rubble After Op Sindoor

Muridke [Pakistan]: Following India’s precision strikes on terrorist sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) on Wednesday, the terror hotbeds in Muridke and Bahawalpur have been turned into rubble.

The Markaz Taiba in Muridke, is the most important training centre of Lashkar-e-Taiba. The complex holds arms and physical trainings facility, as well as dawa’h and radicalisation for terror entities both from within Pakistan and abroad.

This Markaz enrolls around 1000 students in different courses annually. All the perpetrators of 26/11 Mumbai attack including Ajmal Kasab were imparted ‘Daura-e-Ribbat’ (intelligence training) at this facility. David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the prime conspirators of 26/11 Mumbai attacks, had visited Muridke on instructions of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.

Bhawalpur hosts the Markaz Subhan Allah, operational since 2015, the main centre of Jaish-e-Mohammad for training and indoctrination and serves as operational headquarter of JeM. It is associated with terrorist plannings by JeM including Pulwama attack on Feb 14, 2019. The Markaz consists of residences of JeM Chief Maulana Masood Azhar, de-facto Chief of JeM Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar, Maulana Ammar and other family members of Masood Azhar. Masood Azhar has made several addresses from this facility extolling anti – India rhetoric and appealing to youth to join Islamic Jihad. JeM conducts regular arms, physical and religious training for its cadres at Markaz Subhan Allah.

Sheikhupura District Additional Deputy Commissioner, Usman Jaleesm, said four buildings have been demolished following India’s strikes, according to Reuters.

Jaleesm said, “Around midnight, the first two missiles were fired by India in the premises, and the other two attacks were carried out after a brief gap, and the whole four attacks were carried out in less than ten minutes. Four buildings have been demolished, one is the admin block and the mosque, and additionally two residences.”

Satellite pictures from Maxar Technologies obtained by Reuters show damage caused by Indian missile strikes on the Jamia Mosque in Bahawalpur and Muridke cities of Pakistan. The satellite images show how the area looked before the strike and after the strike.

India, on early Wednesday, carried out precision strikes at the terror infrastructure in Pakistan and PoJK in response to the Pahalgam terror attack. Operation Sindoor, launched by Indian forces, targeted nine sites, which were successfully hit.

Meanwhile, the Indian Armed Forces on Wednesday provided detailed insights into Operation Sindoor. Addressing a press briefing in Delhi on Wednesday, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh outlined the objectives of the operation.

A total of nine terror sites in Pakistan, including five in Pojk, linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba (Let) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (Jem), were targeted with meticulous planning to avoid civilian casualties.

Wing Commander Vyomika Singh elaborated on the operation’s strategic intent, stating, “‘Operation Sindoor’ was a retaliation to the horrific Pahalgam terror attack of April 22 to serve justice to the innocent victims and their families. Nine terror camps were targeted and destroyed.”

She revealed that Pakistan has maintained a complex terror infrastructure for three decades, comprising 21 recruitment, indoctrination, and launch pad centres across Pakistan and PoJK.

“The targets for Operation Sindoor were based on credible intelligence inputs and locations that were so selected to avoid damage to civilian infrastructure and loss of civilian lives,” Singh added, underscoring the operation’s precision.