From 26-29 December 2008, the world watched in horror as ten armed men staged a three-day assault against multiple civilian targets in Mumbai, India. Investigations by India, the United States, and the United Kingdom revealed the responsible party as Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant Islamist group based in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The new OEA Team Threat Report, Lashkar-e-Taiba: The Three-Headed Snake, examines the group’s history, philosophy and goals, ties with other organizations, and common tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP).
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), translated as “Army of the Pure,” is intimately entwined with two other Islamist organizations: Markaz Dawa ul-Irshad and Jamaat-ud-Dawa. Any discussion of one is limited, if not impossible, without reference to the other two. The three groups are so closely related that they may be considered as three heads of a Medusa snake.
Markaz Dawa ul-Irshad, meaning “Center for Preaching and Guidance,” was founded in either Pakistan or Kunar province, Afghanistan in the late 1980s to aid the fight against the Soviets. It was established by Muhammad Hafiz Saeed, Zafar Iqbal, and the late Abdullah Azzam – the last being closely associated with Osama bin Laden. Funding to start the organization was reportedly provided by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, bin Laden, and Azzam. The group set up a headquarters campus in Muridke, Pakistan, with Saeed as its amir (leader).
After the departure of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989, Markaz began to shift its focus toward other conflicts. LeT was started in 1990 as the jihadist wing of Markaz. Based in Muridke and headed by Saeed, its initial focus was the continued fight over Kashmir. The group entered the region for the first time in 1990 and began receiving assistance from the ISI for its Kashmir efforts in 1992. LeT committed its first attack in 1993 – against an Indian military base across the Line of Control in Poonch – killing several.