New Delhi: Precise missile strikes by Indian armed forces in the early hours of May 7 destroyed several terror camps at nine locations across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Among the dozens of terrorists killed in Operation Sindoor was Abdul Rauf Azhar.
Not as prominent a name as his elder brother Azhar Masood, who is a notorious Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist, Rauf also made a name for himself with his nefarious acts.
Rauf was one of the masterminds behind the hijacking of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 in December 1999.
Rauf was among 10 family members killed in the missile strike at Bahawalpur, but Azhar escaped.
Rauf, at the age of 24, planned and executed the hijacking of IC-814, which was en route from Kathmandu to Delhi. Mid-air, the plane was taken over by five terrorists of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and ultimately taken to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
It led India to finally release his elder brother Masood and two other terrorists.
Rauf, a Pakistani Deobandi Jihadist cleric and militant, took over as supreme commander of the Jaish in 2007 after big brother Masood went underground, and was one of the most wanted persons in India.
According to Indian intelligence agencies and NIA, Rauf planned every major Jaish attack in India — including the 2001 ‘fidayeen’ attacks on Jammu & Kashmir assembly and Indian Parliament, 2016 Pathankot IAF base attack, attacks on Nagrota and Kathua camps and the Pulwama attack that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel.
In the absence of Masood, who has not been keeping well, Rauf takes every decision for JeM.
Rauf was in-charge of setting up terror camps in Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK), as well as in Pakistan.
He is also known to liaise with Pakistan government and ISI, prepares JeM’s propaganda material, arranges funds and makes contacts with other terror outfits.
