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Profile: Lashkar e-Tayyiba (Lashkar e-Toiba)

Profile: Lashkar e-Tayyiba (Lashkar e-Toiba)
November 14, 2006 15:29 CST

Terrorist Group Profile

Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LT) (Also LeT)

a.k.a. Al Mansooreen;
Al Mansoorian;
Army of the Pure;
Army of the Pure and Righteous;
Army of the Righteous;
Jamaat ud-Dawa and Al Monsooreen;
Lashkar e-Toiba;
Lashkar-i-Taiba;
Paasban-e-Ahle-Hadis;
Paasban-e-Kashmir;
Paasban-i-Ahle-Hadith;
Pasban-e-Ahle-Hadith;
Pasban-e-Kashmir

Description
LT began as the militant wing of the Islamic extremist organization Markaz Dawa ul-Irshad (MDI), which was formed in the mid-1980s. MDI changed its name to Jamaat ul-Dawa (JUD) in 2001, probably in an effort to avoid Government of Pakistan restrictions. The U.S. State Department designated Lashkar e-Tayyiba a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in 2001, and Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf banned LT in 2002. The United Nations designated LT as an FTO in 2005. LT is led by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and is one of the three largest and best-trained groups fighting in Kashmir against India. It is not connected to any political party. The Pakistani Government banned the group and froze its assets in January 2002. Elements of LT and Jaish-e-Muhammed combined with other groups to mount attacks as "The Save Kashmir Movement."

Activities
The LT has conducted a number of operations against Indian troops and civilian targets in Jammu and Kashmir since 1993. The LT claimed responsibility for numerous attacks in 2001, including an attack in January on Srinagar airport that killed five Indians; an attack on a police station in Srinagar that killed at least eight officers and wounded several others; and an attack in April against Indian border security forces that left at least four dead. Indian Listed on the UN 1267 Committee List. Government publicly implicated the LT, along with JEM, for the attack in December 2001 on the Indian Parliament building, although concrete evidence is lacking. The LT is also suspected of involvement in the attack in May 2002 on an Indian Army base in Kaluchak that left 36 dead. India blames the LT for an attack in New Delhi in October 2005 and an attack in Bangalore in December 2005. Senior al-Qaida lieutenant Abu Zubaydah was captured at an LT safe house in Faisalabad in March 2002, suggesting that some members were facilitating the movement of al-Qaida members in Pakistan.

Strength
The LT has several thousand members in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, in the southern Jammu and Kashmir and Doda regions, and in the Kashmir valley. Almost all LT members are Pakistanis from madrassas across Pakistan or Afghan veterans of the Afghan wars. The group uses assault rifles, light and heavy machine guns, mortars, explosives, and rocket-propelled grenades.

Location/Area of Operation
Based in Muridke (near Lahore) and Muzaffarabad.

External Aid
Collects donations from the Pakistani community in the Persian Gulf and United Kingdom, Islamic NGOs, and Pakistani and other Kashmiri business people. The LT also maintains a Web site under the name Jamaat ud-Daawa through which it solicits funds and provides information on the group’s activities. The amount of LT funding is unknown. The LT maintains ties to religious/militant groups around the world, ranging from the Philippines to the Middle East and Chechnya, through the fraternal network of its parent organization Jamaat ud-Dawa (formerly Markaz Dawa ul-Irshad).

-- Source: "Country Reports on Terrorism 2005,"
Published April 2006 United States Department of State,
Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism
United States Department of State Publication #11324
Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism
On the Internet at: http://www.mipt.org/pdf/Country-Reports-Terrorism-2005.pdf

Additional reference:
Lashkar-e-Taiba, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, (Army of the Righteous), can be found at: http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/lashkar.htm

ERRI/EmergencyNet News References:
"Series of EmergencyNet News Reports of Escalating Conflict Between India and Pakistan in the Kashmir Region - 23 May, 1999 to 04 June 1999," on the net at: http://www.emergency.com/1999/kasmir99.htm

"Crisis in Kashmir: Summary of EmergencyNet News Reports of the Continuing Conflict Between India and Pakistan Over the Disputed Region of Kashmir -- 01 Oct 2000 to 05 Nov 2000," on the net at: http://www.emergency.com/2000/kashmir-crisis2000.htm

"Crisis in Kashmir: 2001-2002, Series of EmergencyNet News "Real-Time" Reports Concerning Escalating Tensions Between Pakistan and India -- 13 Dec 2001 to 19 Jan 2002," on the net at: http://www.emergency.com/2001/crisis_in_kashmir2001.htm

Pakistan Advisory Page (Up to 2002) http://www.emergency.com/pakiwarn.htm

Compilation courtesy of:
Emergency Response & Research Institute
EmergencyNet News Service
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