Lashkar commander confirms Indian strikes wrecked Muridke terror camp in Pakistan

A top Lashkar-e-Taiba commander has admitted that the Markaz Taiba terror camp in Muridke, in Pakistan’s Punjab province, was destroyed in India’s Operation Sindoor on May 7, contradicting Pakistan’s claims till now and confirming that India’s precision strikes hit the intended target. The Muridke camp is the headquarters of the LeT in Pakistan. In a video that has gone viral on social media, LeT commander Qaasim is seen standing amidst the rubble of the erstwhile camp in Muridke while two excavators are seen working in the background. Qaasim also admitted that many ‘big’ terrorists, whom he called Mujahideen, got trained in the camp and achieved ‘faiz’, thereby validating and justifying India’s precision strike on the camp, said a Hindustan Times report.

“I am standing in front of the Markaz Taiba in Muridke... It was destroyed in the attack [during Operation Sindoor]. We will be rebuilding it and making it even bigger... From here, big names in the Mujahideen got trained here and achieved Faiz [Victory],” he said in the video.

Qaasim’s admission comes just days after Jaish-e-Mohammed commander Ilyas Kashmiri made similar remarks about the destruction of JeM’s Bahawalpur base and added that India’s air strikes had ‘torn apart’ group chief Masood Azhar’s family.

The LeT commander’s admission on camera contradicts the denials by Pakistan’s authorities so far and confirms that the Markaz-e-Taiba was indeed destroyed in Operation Sindoor. WION could not verify the authenticity of the social media video.

Lashkar’s Qaasim urges young to join Daura-e-Suffa training

In another video, Qaasim is seen urging young people to join the Daura-e-Suffa training programme, and highlighting the significance of Markaz-e-Taiba. He said the training programme includes basic combat training and jihadi indoctrination, further exposing the real purpose of the camp.

Markaz Taiba was established in Muridke in the year 2000 and is the most crucial training centre of LeT in Pakistan. The complex holds arms and physical training facilities, as well as dawa’h and radicalisation for terror entities, both from within Pakistan and abroad.

Who is funding the reconstruction of LeT’s headquarters?

An earlier report by ANI news agency, citing intelligence inputs, said that Pakistan is directly funding the reconstruction of the LeT headquarters Markaz-e-Taiba in Muridke.

It said LeT has already been allocated PKR 4 crore by the government, while the estimated total cost of the reconstruction will be around PKR 15 crore.

A dossier prepared by agencies said, “LeT cadres have launched fundraising campaigns under the guise of “flood relief”, repeating a historical pattern where humanitarian aid was diverted to terror infrastructure. In 2005, nearly 80% of earthquake relief funds collected by LeT’s front, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, were channelled into building militant camps.”

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India had launched precision strikes on the key strongholds of Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba under Operation Sindoor on May 7 in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed 26 innocent lives.