Yusuf Azhar: IC-814 plane hijack accused killed at JeM base as India extracted Pahalgam revenge

New Delhi, May 10 (IANS) It was about two weeks after the Pahalgam terror attack that India extracted revenge by launching one of its most expansive attacks on hotbeds of terror inside Pakistan. The pre-dawn military strikes inside Pakistan as well as PoK on May 7, resulted in the killing of more than a hundred hardened and notorious terrorists at various camps, operated by terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba as well as Jaish-e-Muhammed.

While JeM chief Masood Azhar saw his family wiped out in the strikes, Yusuf Azhar, a key accused in IC-814 – an Indian Airlines plane hijack (popularly called Kandahar hijack) and also the brother-in-law of former, was killed, even as Indian drones and bombs turned the JeM terror camp into a graveyard.

The Indian Airlines Flight 814 was hijacked on December 24, 1999, to secure the release of three hardcore prisoners lodged in Indian prisons – JeM chief Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Zargar.

Yusuf Azhar, the terrorist killed in the Indian military strike on May 7, was one of the key accused who abetted the hijackers in landing the Indian Airlines plane in Afghanistan and then blackmailing the Indian government for the release of Masood Azhar.

Yusuf Azhar, alias Ustad Ji and Mohd Salim were also the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar and handled weapons training for the JeM. He was also involved in multiple terror attacks across Jammu and Kashmir.

The killing of the Kandahar hijack accused in the Pahalgam revenge attack by Indian forces brings a sense of closure for those families, who were harassed and tortured by the terrorists while being held hostage during the Kandahar hijack.

In fact, the JeM chief has himself been afflicted with huge personal loss, though he reportedly remains remorseless and unmoved by the loss of family members. He, however, did take to social media and acknowledged in Urdu, losing ten family members in the Indian attack on Markaz Subhan Allah in Pakistan’s Bahawalpur.

Another dreaded JeM terrorist, who was killed in the strikes, was identified as Jameel, the brother-in-law of JeM founder Masood Azhar.

It was he who held the charge of Markaz Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur, the JeM headquarters, about 100 km deep inside Pakistan. He was actively involved in recruiting youth into JeM terror module and indoctrinated them to fight for jihad.

--IANS

mr/dan