CEP Resource Details Rise, Tactics of Violent Pakistani Terror Group Lashkar-e-Taiba

(New York, NY)The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) today released a new resource detailing the history, doctrine, and violent activities of one of Pakistan’s largest Islamic terror groups, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

LeT, or “Army of the Righteous,” and its predecessor, Markaz Dawa-wa’l-Irshad (the Center for Call and Guidance), have played a central role in indoctrinating, recruiting, and training thousands of jihadists in Pakistan since the 1980s.

The group has carried out terrorist attacks in Kashmir along the border with India and has collaborated with other militant groups, such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda. In November 2008, LeT coordinated the horrific attacks in Mumbai, India, that targeted a railway station, a popular restaurant, a hospital, two hotels, and a Jewish center. The attacks killed more than 160 people and injured approximately 300.

LeT aims to establish an Islamic state encompassing the “countries surrounding Pakistan,” including Kashmir, India, and central Asian states. It is funded through global charitable donations, criminal activities, and tuition payments for its network of schools. Some analysts speculate LeT could also be making a significant amount of money through the narcotics trade, given the large opium harvests in the region.

Learn more about the history, organization, and ideology of LeT, its founder and emir, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, as well as other extremist groups, leaders, propagandists, and terror financiers at counterextremism.com.

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Fact:

On May 8, 2019, Taliban insurgents detonated an explosive-laden vehicle and then broke into American NGO Counterpart International’s offices in Kabul. At least seven people were killed and 24 were injured.

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