Osama Bin Laden funded guesthouse at LeT HQ in Muridke, now destroyed by India

A guesthouse funded by Osama bin Laden with a Rs 1 crore donation was among the assets destroyed as Indian Air Force struck the Muridke complex of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in a daring overnight operation targeting Pakistan's terror infrastructure.

Striking deep into Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir without breaching airspace, India hit nine high-value sites linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen in the early hours of Wednesday. The operation—codenamed Operation Sindoor—came in retaliation to the killing of 25 male tourists and a local guide in Pahalgam, Kashmir.

Four of the nine sites targeted were located inside Pakistan, including the LeT's Muridke base in Punjab, while five were in PoK. Muridke, located 30 km from Lahore, has served as LeT's nerve centre since 1990 and is where Ajmal Kasab and nine others trained before carrying out the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. It was struck four times in quick succession during the operation.

"Muridke is the base of the terror group since 1990," officials told news agency PTI. "Besides Kasab, 26/11 accused David Headley and Tahawwur Rana also visited the hub. Al Qaeda terrorist Osama Bin Laden, killed in 2011 in Pakistan's Abbottabad, had donated Rs 10 million for the construction of a guesthouse in Muridke."

The Markaz Taiba at Muridke—dubbed a ‘terror factory’—is LeT’s most important training centre, enrolling around 1,000 students in various indoctrination and physical training courses. Operatives here are radicalised, trained, and prepared for cross-border operations.

Simultaneously, the JeM's sprawling base in Bahawalpur was also targeted. The Markaz Subhanallah at this location has been instrumental in training recruits and planning major attacks including the Pulwama bombing, the Parliament attack in 2001, and the Pathankot strike in 2016. JeM's chief Masood Azhar, released during the 1999 IC-814 hijack, received support from Pakistan's ISI, Taliban factions and Osama bin Laden while founding the group, officials told the agency.

The Indian Air Force also hit the JeM camp at Sarjal Tehra Kalan in Narowal district, operating under Abdul Rauf Asgar. Camouflaged as a primary health centre, this site was reportedly used for tunnelling and drone-based infiltration across the Jammu border.

In PoK, Indian jets targeted JeM camps in Kotli and Muzaffarabad, including Markaz Abbas and Markaz Syedna Bilal, and LeT camps like the Shawai Nalla in Muzaffarabad and Markaz Ahle Hadith in Barnala. Another target, Mehmoona Joya in Sialkot, was a Hizbul Mujahideen facility masked as a health unit. It was headed by Irfan Tanda, linked to terror strikes in Jammu city.

The Shawai Nallah camp, used to train 26/11 attackers and frequented by ISI personnel, accommodates up to 250 terrorists and plays a role in radicalising and instructing new recruits in map-reading and weapons handling, according to the officials. Markaz Raheel Shahid in Kotli, also hit, was used to train Hizbul Mujahideen operatives in sniper and Border Action Team (BAT) attacks.

(With inputs from PTI)