OVERVIEW

Lashkar-e-Tayyiba flag

Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LT), often translated as the Army of the Righteous, is a Pakistan-based Sunni terrorist group that seeks to establish an Islamic emirate in South Asia. Since its formation in the early 1990s, LT has focused on attacking military and civilian targets in India-administered Jammu and Kashmir, supporting Pakistan’s claims to Kashmir. In 2006 and 2008, the group conducted large-scale attacks in Mumbai, India, that together killed nearly 400 people.

LT members practice Ahl-e Hadith, a form of Salafism that forbids violence against other Islamic sects; therefore, the group advocates attacks against non-Muslims. LT and its humanitarian front organizations have been banned in Pakistan since 2019, and the group has faced pressure from the Pakistani Government to give up arms. The group is funded primarily by donors in Pakistan, charitable organizations in the Middle East, and fundraising by LT’s own charitable arms—Jamaat-ud-Dawa and the Falah-e Insaniat Foundation.

OPERATING AREAS
Based in Pakistan, where LT raises funds and recruits; conducts operations primarily in India-administered Kashmir

MEMBERS
Several thousand

TACTICS AND TARGETS
LT fighters typically attack Indian military, government, and civilian targets using small arms, landmines, or IEDs. The group maintains training camps, and its humanitarian front groups oversee schools and medical clinics, in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Kashmir.

FOREIGN TERRORIST GROUP DESIGNATION
The US State Department designated LT as a foreign terrorist organization in December 2001. The US Treasury Department designated several LT leaders, including Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, and Sajid Mir, as specially designated global terrorists in 2008.

KEY LEADERS

NOTABLE ATTACKS