The Indian Army carried out strikes in Bahawalpur and Muridke dismantling the headquarters of Jaish and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

"Among those reported eliminated is Abdul Rauf Azhar — operational head of Jaishe-Mohammad, mastermind of the IC-814 hijacking, and a central figure in international jihadist networks," the officials said as quoted by CNN News 18.

"Rauf Azhar’s role in orchestrating the IC-814 hijacking directly facilitated the release of Omar Saeed Sheikh, a key Al-Qaeda operative who went on to kidnap and murder Daniel Pearl, an American-Jewish journalist with the Wall Street Journal. Pearl’s brutal execution in 2002 shocked the conscience of the world and remains a defining example of the global threat posed by state-protected terror networks," officials added.

Abdul Rauf Azhar is the brother of UN-designated terrorist and JeM founder Masood Azhar, who has reportedly lost his 10 family members in the Operation Sindoor, which was launched by the Indian Army in the intervening night of May 6 and 7 as a response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack where 26 tourists were killed.

About IC-814 hijacking

The IC-814 hijacking was a major terrorist incident involving an Indian Airlines flight that was hijacked on December 24, 1999.

The plane was hijacked shortly after entering Indian airspace.

It was forced to land at multiple locations: Amritsar (India), Lahore (Pakistan), Dubai (UAE), and finally Kandahar (Afghanistan).

The hijackers were armed with knives, grenades, and pistols.

One passenger, Rupin Katyal, was killed early during the hijacking.

The hijackers demanded the release of several terrorists imprisoned in India.