A purported audio recording of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar has surfaced, in which he claims the organization has thousands of suicide bombers ready to conduct terror attacks. The audio clip, which has gone viral, features Azhar boasting about the substantial number of fedayeen prepared to infiltrate India and carry out attacks.
In the recording, Azhar, a UN-designated terrorist and the mastermind of attacks like the 2019 Pulwama bombing, asserts that these suicide bombers are motivated solely by the desire for martyrdom. He says they "don't want a beautiful wife or a visa of the US or Europe, or an iPhone," but only seek "shahadat" from Allah. Azhar warns that revealing the exact number of these operatives would cause "an uproar in the world's media". He is heard saying, "These suicide bombers are not one, not two, not 100, not even 1,000. If I tell you the full number, there will be an uproar in the world's media tomorrow...".
While the authenticity and exact date of the audio recording remain unverified, it has sparked concerns and is being viewed as a potential attempt to revitalize the terror group after suffering significant losses. Security agencies are analyzing the audio to trace its origin and assess the credibility of the threat.
The emergence of this audio clip follows India's Operation Sindoor, which targeted and dismantled major terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). Reportedly, Masood Azhar's family was significantly affected during these strikes. Defence experts suggest that Azhar's claims are a "hollow threat" stemming from frustration over Operation Sindoor, which decimated JeM's infrastructure and eliminated several of Azhar's close relatives and top aides.
Masood Azhar, who founded JeM in the early 2000s, has a long history of anti-India remarks and is the mastermind behind numerous terror attacks. These include the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack and the 2019 Pulwama terror attack. Intelligence sources indicate that Azhar continues to operate from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). He was last seen in public in 2019.
Furthermore, reports indicate that Azhar has launched online training courses, such as 'Tufat al-Muminat', to recruit individuals, and is planning to raise a women's brigade within JeM. This brigade is to be personally trained by his family members and used for conducting suicide bombings.
