LASHKAR E-TAYYIBA (LT)

Description: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) on December 26, 2001, Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT) is one of the largest and most proficient of the traditionally Kashmir-focused militant groups. It has the ability to severely disrupt already delicate regional relations. LeT formed in the late 1980s as the militant wing of the Islamic extremist organization Markaz Dawa ul-Irshad, a Pakistan-based Islamic fundamentalist mission organization and charity founded to oppose the Soviet presence in Afghanistan. Led by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, LeT is not connected to any political party. Shortly after LeT was designated as an FTO, Saeed changed the name to Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD) and began humanitarian projects to avoid restrictions. LeT disseminates its message through JUD's media outlets. Elements of LeT and Jaish-e-Muhammad (JEM) combined with other groups to mount attacks as “The Save Kashmir Movement.” The Pakistani government banned LeT in January 2002 and JUD in 2008 following the Mumbai attack. LeT and Saeed continued to spread terrorist ideology, as well as virulent rhetoric condemning the United States, India, Israel, and other perceived enemies.

Activities: LeT has conducted a number of operations against Indian troops and civilian targets in Jammu and Kashmir since 1993, as well as several high profile attacks inside India. Indian governmental officials hold LeT responsible for the July 2006 train attack in Mumbai, and multiple attacks in 2005 and 2006. LeT conducted the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai against luxury hotels, a Jewish center, a train station, and a popular café that killed at least 183, including 22 foreigners, and injured more than 300. India has charged 38 people in the case, including the lone surviving alleged attacker Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab, who was captured at the scene. While most of those charged are at large and thought to be in Pakistan, Kasab was sentenced to death for his involvement in the Mumbai massacre. In March 2010, Pakistani-American businessman David Headley pleaded guilty in a U.S. court to crimes relating to his role in the November 2008 LeT attacks in Mumbai as well as to crimes relating to a separate plot to bomb the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten . In May 2011, Headley was a witness in the trial of Tahawwur Rana, who was charged with providing material support to LeT. Rana was convicted for providing material support to LeT in June.

In 2011, LeT was responsible for multiple attacks. Most of the attacks occurred in Jammu and Kashmir, with the deadliest being a May 27, 2011 attack on a private residence in the city of Kupwara that killed two civilians. In a notable 2011 counterterrorism success, police in Indian-administered Kashmir shot and killed a senior LeT operative, Azhar Malik, after they surrounded a house where he was hiding in the town of Sopore.

Strength: The actual size of LeT is unknown, but it has several thousand members in Azad Kashmir and Punjab Pakistan, and in the southern Jammu, Kashmir, and Doda regions. Most LeT members are Pakistanis or Afghans or veterans of the Afghan wars. The group uses assault rifles, machine guns, mortars, explosives, and rocket-propelled grenades.

Location/Area of Operation: LeT maintains a number of facilities, including training camps, schools, and medical clinics in Pakistan.

 

External Aid: LeT collects donations from Pakistani expatriate communities in the Middle East and Europe, particularly the United Kingdom; Islamic non-governmental organizations; and Pakistani and Kashmiri business people. LeT has global connections and a strong operational network throughout South Asia.

Source: www.state.gov.