Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale on Tuesday confirmed that India had “struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Balakot", in the early hours of Tuesday.
He said the strikes took place on a hilltop in a forest location far from civilian areas and that the JeM camp was run by Yusuf Azhar, reportedly the brother-in-law of JeM leader Masood Azhar.
Yusuf Azhar alias Mohammad Salim was one of the men who hijacked the Indian Airline flight IC 814 to Kandahar in 1999. The JeM chief was then released by India in exchange for the IC- 814 hijacked passengers.
In 2002, the government handed over a list of 20 fugitives to Islamabad and it had Yusuf Azhar's name.
In 2000, the Interpol, on the basis of a request by the CBI opened a red corner notice against the hijacker. The notice said that his place of birth was in Karachi and he was fluent in "Urdu and Hindi." He is wanted in India for "hijacking, murder and kidnapping."
