IC-814 hijacker Ibrahim Azhar killed in IAF air strikes in PoK: 5 things to know about him

Days after a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers, India on early Tuesday struck the Pakistan-based terror outfit's biggest training camp at Balakot killing at least 350 terrorists and their trainers.

Ibrahim Azhar was the elder brother of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar. ANI Photo

NEW DELHI: Days after a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers, India on early Tuesday struck the Pakistan-based terror outfit's biggest training camp at Balakot killing at least 350 terrorists and their trainers. The strikes involving several fighter jets of the Indian Air Force successfully destroyed camps belonging JeM in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. India tagetted key Jaish terrorists, including Ibrahim Azhar and Mufti Azhar Khan Kashmiri, in air strikes. Who was Ibrahim Azhar, key JeM terrorist killed in IAF air strikes. 1: Ibrahim Azhar was the elder brother of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar. 2: Ibrahim Azhar was also involved in the IC-814 hijacking after which India had to free dreaded terrorist Masood Azhar in exchange for the release of the passengers of the Indian Airlines flight in 1999. 3: Ibrahim Azhar was a top Jaish leader who was involved in several terrorist activities. 4: The killing of Ibrahim Azhar is a major setback to Masood Azhar and his outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed. 5: Ibrahim Azhar was living in the terror camps upon which the Indian forces dropped 1000kg bombs across the Line of Control, which led to complete destruction of these launch pads. As celebrations erupted across India, Foreign Secretary Vijay K. Gokhale told the media that "in an intelligence-led operation in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jehadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated. "This facility at Balakot was headed by Maulana Yusuf Azhar (alias Ustad Ghouri), the brother-in-law of (JeM leader) Masood Azhar."