NEW DELHI: Masood Azhar’s elder brother, Mohammad Tahir Anwar, has died in Pakistan under mysterious circumstances, according to a statement issued by the banned outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed.
The group said Anwar’s funeral was scheduled at Jamia Masjid Usman Wali in Bahawalpur on Monday, though the exact cause of death has not been disclosed. He was reportedly one of Azhar’s five brothers and played an active role in the outfit’s operations.
Azhar had last year claimed that 10 members of his family and four aides were killed in India’s targeted airstrikes under Operation Sindoor following the Pahalgam terror attack. Those killed in the strike on JeM headquarters, Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur, allegedly included his sister, her husband, a nephew and his wife, a niece, and several children.
In a statement attributed to him, Azhar said he had “neither regret nor despair” over the deaths and described them as “guests of Allah.”
Azhar, arrested in India in 1994 and released after the Air India IC 814 hijacking, is listed as an international terrorist by the UN Security Council. He has been linked to multiple major attacks in India, including the 2001 Parliament attack, 2008 Mumbai attacks, 2016 Pathankot attack and the 2019 Pulwama attack. (Agencies)
