Azhar turned into one of the terrorists who hijacked the Indian Airlines flight IC 814 to Kandahar in 1999. In 2000, Interpol issued a pink notice to be aware of him after the hijacking at the request of the CBI.
In fast retaliation to the dastardly Pulwama terror assault, the Indian Air Force breached Pakistani airspace in the early hours of Tuesday and dropped 500kg and 1000kg laser-guided bombs on terror release pads in Balakot, Chakothi, and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan. The goal in Balakot became the most crucial schooling camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed, the outfit which claimed responsibility for the Pulwama suicide bombing. This region was being run by Yousuf Azhar, brother-in-law of Jaish-e-Mohammed’s chief Masood Azhar, who was killed in a bomb run using IAF’s Mirage 2000 fighter jets.
“In an intelligence-led operation within the early hours of these days, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot… This facility in Balakot was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar (alias Ustad Ghouri), the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, chief of JeM,” Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale stated in his briefing earlier this week.
However, Gokhale did not say if Yousuf would be killed in the assault or not. Azhar became one of the terrorists who hijacked the Indian Airlines flight IC 814 to Kandahar in 1999. In 2000, Interpol issued a red corner note against him after the hijacking on request from the CBI. His name changed into the list of 20 fugitives New Delhi handed to Islamabad in 2002.
Moreover, the schooling camps have been run together using Jaish-e-Mohammed, Laskar-e-Toiba, and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, and housed terrorists in large numbers. In his briefing, Gokhale stated, “a wide variety of JeM terrorists, running shoes, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being skilled for fidayeen mission were eliminated” inside the bombing of Balakot education camp. While the authorities are awaiting the IAF to verify the precise number of terrorists killed in the action, sources have pronounced that the casualties can run within the range of 2,300. Gokhley also assured that the objectives were selected to minimize civilian casualties.
“The target selection was also conditioned by our preference to avoid civilian casualties. The facility is placed in a thickly wooded area on a hilltop, some distance away from any civilian presence. As the strike has taken place only afor a short time, as in the past, we’re waiting for further info,” he said.
