'They have declared war on us': JeM chief Masood Azhar's brother admits IAF bombed 'jihad' training centre in Pakistan

Amid claims by Pakistan government and its media that no terror camps were hit in the Indian airstrikes carried out earlier this week, an audio clip of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar's brother has emerged in which he is heard admitting that the Indian Air Force aircraft targeted a training centre of terror group.

In the audio clip, accessed by WION, the JeM terrorist admits damage to its training centre by Indian jets. Jem chief's brother Maulana Ammar is heard saying in the clip that Indian fighter jets "crossed the border to enter the territory of an Islamic nation (read Pakistan) and bombed a centre of Muslims." 

"Indian aircraft did not bomb the safe house of any agency, they did not bomb the headquarters of any agency or where agency officials held their meetings. They bombed the centre where students understood the concept of jihad to help Kashmir’s Muslims," he can be heard saying.

By this the enemy has declared war on us, he says. 

“By attacking our centre, India has ensured that we start our jihad against it," he says in the audio clip.

This has exposed Pakistan's lies which claimed that there were no terror camps in the area and what Indian jets hit were only trees in a civilian area. 

India had launched air strikes on JeM's biggest training camp in Pakistan's Balakot on February 26. The strikes came 12 days after 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in a suicide attack by JeM in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14.

In a statement confirming that IAF launched an attack deep into Pakistan territory, Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said the airstrikes were a pre-emptive measure to stop the terror group from launching further attacks in India. 

The government said that a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated in the operation. 

Pakistan maintained that India dropped bombs in a forest and there was no casualty in the strikes. 

However, a day later on Wednesday, Pakistan Air Force violated Indian airspace in their attempt to target military installations in Jammu and Kashmir. While Indian forces foiled the attack and shot down an F-16 of the Pak Air Force, India lost a MiG-21 in the engagement. 

The pilot of the Indian jet, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was captured by Pakistan and was released two days later on Friday after international pressure on Islamabad.