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Camp where Ajmal Kasab, David Headley trained destroyed in Operation Sindoor

One of the LeT terror facilities in Muridke was once given 10 million Pakistani rupees by Osama Bin Laden for the construction of a mosque and guesthouse

Published on: May 7, 2025, 14:49:26 IST
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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.

A private security guard walks through rubble of a damaged building after an Indian missile attack in Muridke. (AP)
A private security guard walks through rubble of a damaged building after an Indian missile attack in Muridke. (AP)

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.

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.

 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Chauhan

Neeraj Chauhan is a senior journalist with Hindustan Times and an investigative reporter specialising in national security, terrorism, organised crime, narcotics, corruption, financial crime and complex investigations. With over 21 years of experience across Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Indian Express and The Pioneer, he has built deep expertise in India’s internal security and law-enforcement landscape. Neeraj has extensively covered India’s principal investigative, intelligence and security agencies, including the NIA, CBI, ED, IB, R&AW, MHA and other central security forces. His work has included deeply reported investigations into terrorism, terror financing, cross-border crime, narcotics trafficking, cybercrime, financial fraud and political and corporate corruption. He has reported on some of the most significant terror attacks and security developments in India over the past two decades, including the Delhi serial blasts, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the 2019 Pulwama terror attack and the recent Pahalgam attack. His reporting has also chronicled the rise and decline of the Indian Mujahideen, the activities and subsequent crackdown on the Popular Front of India (PFI), Islamist extremist networks, the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, insurgencies in the Northeast and Maoist violence. Some of Neeraj’s major breaking stories are in Aryan Khan drug case, Sushant Singh Rajput suicide, interception of a 3,000-kg Afghan heroin consignment worth about ₹21,000 crore at Mundra port, Sri Lanka easter bombings, Aarushi-Hemraj murders in Noida, 2G scam, coal block allocation scam, AgustWestland VVIP chopper deal and major bank frauds and extradition cases involving Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya. His reporting is marked by an ability to cultivate sources, analyse confidential and complex documents, and follow investigations over several years—from the initial breakthrough to chargesheets, trials and international legal proceedings. He specialises in making complicated security and investigative developments accessible while examining their wider implications for governance and public policy. A Chevening South Asia Journalism Programme Fellow at the University of Westminster, Neeraj also spent time at the Financial Times as part of the fellowship. He was also a Robert Bosch Media Ambassadors India-Germany Fellow, studying at the University of Tübingen and working with Der Tagesspiegel in Berlin. He has previously taught investigative journalism and crime reporting as a guest faculty member at the Times School of Journalism. Over more than two decades, Neeraj has established himself as an authoritative voice on India’s national security and investigative landscape, with his reporting closely followed by officials, investigators, lawyers, policymakers and readers seeking insight into some of the country’s most complex and consequential developments.

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