Maulana Salman, a senior commander of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), died on Wednesday, 30 April after being struck by an unidentified vehicle in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Salman was a close aide of JeM chief Masood Azhar and had been linked to several major terrorist attacks on Indian soil, according to officials. His death marks the latest in a mounting series of mysterious eliminations targeting top operatives of both JeM and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Who Was Maulana Salman

Salman was described by officials as one of Masood Azhar's most trusted lieutenants and a key operational figure within JeM. He was reportedly involved in planning and executing the 2001 Indian Parliament attack and the 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing, which killed 40 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). His funeral was held the same day at the Markaz Subhanallah in Bahawalpur at 4 pm and was attended by hundreds, including, reportedly, officials of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

The Operation Sindoor Connection

Salman had earlier survived the Indian armed forces' Operation Sindoor, which targeted JeM's Bahawalpur headquarters. While he escaped that strike with injuries, many top leaders of the outfit and several close family members of Masood Azhar were eliminated in the operation. The JeM chief subsequently released an official statement mourning the deaths. Salman's demise now removes yet another surviving senior figure from that already-decimated inner circle.

A Pattern of Mysterious Deaths

Salman's killing is part of what officials describe as a sustained and widening pattern of targeted eliminations of senior JeM and LeT figures inside Pakistan. Just two days before Salman's death, Sheikh Yusuf Afridi, a top LeT commander who managed the outfit's operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), was assassinated by unidentified persons in the province. Last year, JeM lost its key strategist, Maulana Abdul Aziz Azar, under similarly opaque circumstances — officially attributed to a heart attack, though the circumstances remain disputed. In March last year, Abu Natal, a senior LeT operative, was shot by unidentified gunmen in the Jhelum district of Pakistan's Punjab. On 16 April this year, Maulana Amir Hamza, one of LeT's founding members, was shot at by unidentified gunmen while inside his vehicle; he was hospitalised and reportedly survived.

Leadership Crisis Inside JeM and LeT

According to an official cited in the report, the cumulative effect of these deaths has dealt a severe blow to both organisations, which were already attempting to rebuild following Operation Sindoor. Within JeM, there is a confirmed leadership vacuum, with the ISI reportedly guiding efforts to install a new command structure with a reduced inner circle. Pakistani media have been placed under what is described as an unofficial ban on reporting about Masood Azhar, whose health is said to be in a very poor condition. LeT faces a parallel crisis: questions are mounting over the leadership of Hafiz Saeed, with a growing internal clamour for younger leadership to take charge of the organisation.

What This Means Going Forward

Officials say both outfits are now navigating a simultaneous operational and leadership crisis, with their revival ambitions severely constrained. The identity and motive of those behind the string of killings remain unconfirmed. With Masood Azhar's health deteriorating and Hafiz Saeed's authority questioned, the structural future of both JeM and LeT remains deeply uncertain.