The nine terror camps targeted by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Operation Sindoor were strategically provided with training, financial support, logistics, and sophisticated communication equipment by the Pakistan Army and the ISI. These camps were also regularly visited by senior Pakistani Army officers, according to the latest assessment by Indian intelligence agencies.
The terror camps belong to Maulana Masood Azhar-led Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Hafiz Saeed-led Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and Syed Salahuddin-led Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), and had become full-fledged factories producing anti-India terrorists, officials said.
Also read: How the 9 targets India hit during Operation Sindoor were providing support to terrorists
One of the LeT terror facilities at Markaz Taiba in Muridke was once given 10 million Pakistani rupees by former al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden for the construction of a mosque and guesthouse on the campus. All 10 terrorists involved in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, including Ajmal Kasab, received intelligence training (called Daura-e-Ribbat) at Markaz Taiba.
In addition, co-conspirators David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana (who is currently in the custody of the National Investigation Agency after being extradited from the US last month) visited this facility along with retired Pakistan Army officer Abdul Rehman Sayed alias Pasha, and other co-conspirators Haroon and Khurram, on the instructions of LeT’s operational commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.
An officer, citing intelligence assessments, said Markaz Taiba in Muridke – established in 2000 – is the most important LeT training center, located in Nangal Sahdan. It serves as a breeding ground for radicalizing students and motivating them to join armed jihad. “It can be compared to a terror factory. It has around 1,000 students enrolled in different courses annually, highlighting the role of this Markaz in churning out LeT terrorists,” the officer added.
The second facility, Markaz Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur, is JeM’s main center for training and indoctrination and serves as its operational headquarters. It was involved in planning various attacks in India, including the Pulwama attack on February 14, 2019.
“It houses the residences of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, de facto chief Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar, Maulana Ammar, and other family members of Masood Azhar,” according to the assessment.
Another JeM facility in Sarjal–Tehra Kalan, located in Shakargarh tehsil of Narowal district, Punjab (Pakistan), is identified as the main launching point for JeM terrorists infiltrating into Jammu and Kashmir. “This JeM facility holds special prominence due to its proximity—about six kilometers—from the International Border in the Samba sector of Jammu. It serves as a base for digging cross-border tunnels and launching drones to drop arms, ammunition, narcotics, and other warlike stores into Indian territory,” the assessment states.