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.

Daily Dose

Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.

Fact:

On October 7, 2023, Hamas invaded southern Israel where, in the space of eight hours, hundreds of armed terrorists perpetrated mass crimes of brutality, rape, and torture against men, women and children. In the biggest attack on Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, 1,200 were killed, and 251 were taken hostage into Gaza—where 101 remain. One year on, antisemitic incidents have increased by record numbers. 

View Archive