Reduced to rubble India strikes alleged headquarters of militant groups in Pakistan s heartland

MURIDKE, Pakistan – Video footage from the early hours of May 7 shows a bright flash from the residential Islamic seminary outside Bahawalpur in central Pakistan, as India attacked its neighbour in response to the killing of Indian tourists in Kashmir.

The seminary was emptied of its students in recent days as speculation grew that it would be targeted by India, but the family of Mr Masood Azhar, founder of the Jaish-e-Mohammed Islamist militant group, was still there, according to the group.

Ten of his relatives were among 13 people killed in the strike, including women and children, the Pakistani military said.

Thousands of people turned out for their funerals at a sports stadium later in the day, shouting “Allah Akbar”, or “God is Great”, and other religious chants.

“(Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi’s brutality has broken all norms,” the group said in a statement. “The grief and shock are indescribable”.

It said that five of those killed were children, and the others included Mr Azhars sister and her husband.

It did not respond to a request for comment on why the family was still at the site.

Mr Azhar, who has not been seen for years, and his brother, Mr Abdul Rauf Asghar, deputy head of the group, did not appear to have attended the funeral prayers.

The road to the site was cordoned off after the strike.

Farther north, around half an hour after midnight, four Indian missiles hit a sprawling complex in Muridke over six minutes, a local government official said.

The attack demolished a mosque and adjacent administration building and buried three people in the rubble.

A sign outside describes the site as a government health and educational complex, but India says it is associated with militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

New Delhi and Washington blame LeT