Jaish chief Masood Azhar’s brother, Mohammad Tahir Anwar, died in Pakistan under ‘mysterious circumstances’. The news has been shared by the terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed’s official channel. His funeral took place at Jamia Masjid Usman Wali in Bahawalpur.
#FPWorld: The brother of Masood Azhar, a key figure in Jaish-e-Mohammed, has died under unclear circumstances in Pakistan, with no official cause of death disclosed so far.https://t.co/OtKghHr46h
— Firstpost (@firstpost) March 31, 2026
His death comes at a time when the group has already suffered losses in earlier Indian strikes on its bases, especially in Bahawalpur, known to be one of its key centres. In those operations, several locations linked to the outfit were targeted and badly damaged.
In September last year, the group had for the first time indirectly confirmed that members of Masood Azhar’s family were killed in one such strike. A senior commander had said that India’s action in Bahawalpur under Operation Sindoor led to the deaths of several of his relatives. The operation was carried out after the 22nd April terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people.
That strike caused major destruction at the Bahawalpur centre, including Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah. Around 10 members of Azhar’s family were killed, including his sister, her husband, a nephew, a niece and other relatives. Several of his close aides were also among those who died.
Tahir Anwar had been closely linked to the Jaish-e-Mohammed group for years and was involved in its activities. There has been no official statement available on the cause of his death. It is not clear whether he suffered from some illness or not.
Jaish-e-Mohammed has been connected to various major attacks in India over the years, including the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2016 strike on the Athankot airbase, the Uri attack that killed 19 soldiers, and the 2019 Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives.
As of now, there is no clarity on the reasons for the death of Tahir Anwar, and no further information has been shared on this matter by the Jaish-e-Mohammed authorities.
