Incidents and Statements involving Lashkar-e-Taiba : 2008

2008

• December 26: The Punjab Government has appointed administrators in 10 selected schools of the banned outfit JuD (the LeT front organisation) after intelligence agencies reported that these institutions were promoting extremism. As many as 26 educational institutions of the JuD are operating in various parts of the province but the Government has appointed administrators in only 10 selected schools. Sources revealed that following a ban imposed on the JuD, intelligence agencies informed the Government that 10 JuD educational institutions in various parts of Punjab were promoting extremism. "Special lectures promoting Jihad are delivered to students, especially at the time of assembly," sources quoting intelligence reports said. A senior official of the School Education Department said the move was aimed at resumption of academic activities at the JuD-run institutions, especially in view of the upcoming matriculation annual examinations. He said teachers would not be replaced and they would continue to teach at these institutions. Abdullah Muntazir, a JuD spokesman, claimed the organisation had always worked within the law, adding discipline had been the top priority at their schools.

• December 23: Pakistan has ‘satisfactorily complied’ with UN sanctions on terrorist groups, including the JuD, a senior United Nations official has said. Richard Barrett, co-ordinator of the UN Security Council’s (UNSC) Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Monitoring Committee, told CNN-IBN television that it was difficult to implement the sanctions completely, but the UN had found all Pakistani agencies were co-operative. The committee has the task of monitoring sanctions imposed by the UNSC on declared terrorists. "It is very difficult for a state to implement that (sanctions) completely, but yes in a way the Pakistani government is working to ensure fruitful compliance," he said.

• December 22: The Foreign Office in Islamabad confirmed that the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi has received a letter written by Mohammad Ajmal Amir alias Ajmal Kasab, the lone LeT militant arrested during the multiple terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26. Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Sadiq told that the External Affairs Ministry of India had handed over a letter, allegedly written by Ajmal Kasab. Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Foreign Office said, "This evening the Indian government has forwarded to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi a letter from one ‘Mohammad Ajmal Mohammad Ameer Kasab’, who claims to be a Pakistani." The statement said he had sought assistance of a lawyer and a meeting with the Pakistan High Commissioner. "The contents of the letter are being examined," it concluded. Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said Pakistan’s acting High Commissioner Afrasiab Mehdi Hashmi was summoned to the ministry and given the letter purportedly written by Mohammed Ajmal Amir. "In his letter to the Pakistan High Commission, Iman has stated he and the (nine) terrorists killed in the attack were from Pakistan and he has sought a meeting with the Pakistan High Commission," Prakash added.

• December 21: The LeT was operating in the guise of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa and Pakistan would have been isolated in the world if the group had not been banned, a private TV channel reported Federal Religious Affairs Minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi as saying. Kazmi also said the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (JuD) was banned under pressure from the United Nations.

• December 19: Two more top LeT militants, including a ‘tehsil commander’, were killed by the Security Forces (SFs) in an encounter at village Kairni in the Bharat area of Doda District. With this, the death toll in two operations during the last two days has increased to five, including four LeT commanders and an Army soldier. A Special Police Officer, Rakesh Kumar, was wounded in the operation on December 19. Senior Superintendent of Police (Doda), Prabhat Singh, said SFs, who had launched a search operation at Kairni on December 18 and shot dead a ‘deputy divisional commander’ of the LeT, Mohammed Iqbal Malik alias Abu Umair, resumed the search the next morning. The militants, who had slipped into Kairni forests, were pursued in the morning and finally engaged in a gun-battle by the SFs. In the over two hour long encounter, the two remaining militants, identified as Mohammed Ashraf, a ‘tehsil commander’, and Nawaz Ahmed Mir alias Abu Murshid were killed. Recoveries made from the slain militants include three AK-56 rifles, four magazines, 76 rounds, eight grenades, one radio set, two mobile telephones and some incriminating documents.

• December 18: The crackdown on the JuD charity continues and 55 of its senior leaders have been detained, a private TV channel reported the Interior Ministry as saying. An unnamed Interior Ministry spokesman said the names of 22 of those arrested had been placed on the Exit Control List. He said the detained men were being interrogated and no clues of their link to the Mumbai terror attacks had been found so far.

  Police in the Doda District killed two top militant commanders of the LeT, including Saifullah Qari, a Pakistani, in two gun-battles at Krara and Bharat. A trooper of Territorial Army was also killed in one of the incidents.

  An unidentified LeT ‘commander’ was killed during an encounter with the Police at village Kairni in the Doda district.

• December 17: Rejecting Indian claims yet again that there is ‘clear evidence’ suggesting the Mumbai terror attacks originated inside Pakistan, President Asif Ali Zardari told BBC there is still no conclusive proof. Zardari told BBC in Islamabad that Pakistan was prepared to act if adequate evidence of any Pakistani complicity in the attacks emerged. Zardari stated claims that the sole surviving attacker had been identified by his father as coming from Pakistan had also not been proven. The president also said that LeT chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed would remain under house arrest. "Let me assure you that if there is any investigation to be found pointing towards his involvement in any form of terrorism, he shall be tried for that reason," said Zardari

  Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, chief of the banned LeT, cannot be tried without solid proof, Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar said. Mukhtar said Saeed had been detained under the Maintenance of Public Order regulation, which only allowed detaining a citizen for 90 days. The detention could be extended, he said, but India had not given solid proof to Pakistan about the involvement of Saeed or the LeT in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. "In the absence of solid proof, neither Hafiz Saeed nor any other leader detained at the moment can be tried in any court of law," the channel quoted him as saying.

• December 16: The Provincial Police Officer Balochistan, Asif Nawaz Warraich, has said that no arrest of any member of the JuD was made. However, there was one office of JuD in Quetta which was sealed. Speaking to reporters, he said the JuD had specific activities in Balochistan. Their camps set up for collecting relief for earthquake hit people had been closed. He said the federal Government did not provide any list for arrests.

• December 15: Authorities in PoK have released four detained workers of the JuD and have also withdrawn Police guards from the residence of the group’s regional head. Chaudhry Imtiaz, Deputy Commissioner of Muzaffarabad, the PoK capital, told that Police guards had been removed from the residence of Maulana Abdul Aziz Alvi but he had been asked not to leave the area without informing the administration. Maulana Alvi, who heads the PoK chapter of JuD, was put under house arrest in his Karyan village, some 19 kilometres north of Muzaffarabad, on December 11. "He had been placed under house arrest for security reasons. He is still under surveillance and cannot leave the station without prior intimation to the authorities concerned," the Deputy Commissioner (DC) said. Similarly, the DC said four people taken into custody from a mechanical workshop run by the JuD in Muzaffarabad had also been released because they were merely mechanics. In response to a question, he said there were no instructions from the federal Government to detain the regional or second-line leadership of the JuD. They were concerned about the ‘top brass’ and not the regional leadership, he said.

  SFs continued the crackdown against JuD and arrested 12 workers and sealed its assets in different parts of the NWFP. JuD provincial spokesman Atiq ur Rehman Chohan said 12 workers, including the Mardan District chief Murad Khan, were arrested. Ehile accusing state agencies of torturing JuD workers, Chohan also said similar raids were conducted in Abbottabad District and innocent people had been detained. He said that Police had confiscated four motor cycles in Abbottabad main office. In Peshawar, he said Police had sealed Al Dawa Model School in Tehkal area which was illegal. "Sealing Dawa’s schools, hospitals and ambulance service will affect only common people and 25,000 workers across the country," he said.

• December 14: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown blamed the outlawed LeT for the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Addressing a press conference at the President’s House in Islamabad after talks with President Asif Ali Zardari, he urged Pakistan to provide British investigators access to people detained during a crackdown on JuD, including its chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed. Brown had said that British Police wanted to question the suspects because at least three UK nationals were among the people killed in Mumbai.

  There is no evidence that the JuD is engaged in acts of violence, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said. "If there is evidence (of terrorist activities) we will take action," Qureshi said on a trip to Paris for a meeting of senior envoys from Afghanistan, its neighbours and other world powers to discuss the war-torn country’s future.

  The ISI, Pakistan external intelligence agency, has no links with the banned LeT, President Asif Ali Zardari said in a Newsweek interview. Asked if the ISI had shared intelligence with the LeT on Kashmir, Zardari said it was "something [that happened] in the old days when dictators used to run the country. Maybe before 9/11, that may have been a position. [But] since then, things have changed to a great extent". He said the group had now been banned in Pakistan, but such groups "keep re-emerging in different forms". "Whenever there is actionable intelligence, we move in before anyone else does," he said.

• December 12: Police shut down offices of the JuD and arrested scores of operatives as it continued a crackdown against the banned group.

  Islamabad Police sealed three offices of the JuD. One was near Masjid Quba in the I-8 Markaz and another in Street 35 in G-6/4, Chief Commissioner Kamran Lashari said. However, no arrests were made. Officials said the group had abandoned its G-6 office before the Police raid. Later in the day, Police sealed another office located on Korri Road near Shahzad Town, and arrested six suspected operatives.

  In the NWFP, JuD officials in Peshawar said Police had arrested 150 operatives in a province-wide operation and sealed 46 offices. But over 181 activists were arrested and 46 offices sealed across the Frontier on December 11. Many workers have reportedly gone underground. Police closed the Da’awa headquarters at Peshawar’s Fawara Chowk late on December 11. However, no arrests were made. The Frontier Police also closed down offices of the banned Al Akhtar Trust and Al Rashid Trust in the Saddar, Hashtnagri, Gulbahar and Yakatoot areas of the city and in the rest of the province. JuD spokesman Attiq-ur-Rehman Chohan told reporters outside the sealed office at Fawara Chowk in Peshawar that workers were arrested from offices in Mardan, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Haripur, Malakand, Swabi and other Districts of NWFP. He claimed the crackdown would deprive over 400,000 people displaced by the military operation in Bajuar Agency of food, medicines and other items.

  Police raided an office, two schools and a religious seminary run by the JuD in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), and placed its leader Abdul Aziz Alvi under house arrest.

  In Rawalpindi, security agencies sealed five offices in Satellite Town, Kashmari Bazaar, Benazir Bhutto Road, Pindora and Tench Bhatta. Police sources said no arrests were made from these locations.

  In Lahore, divisional superintendents of Police took surety bonds from the JuD operatives. Multan Police sealed a Jama’at-ud-Da’awa office at Rasheedabad Chowk, and a school and a dispensary on Tareen Road in a midnight operation. Police also sealed the group’s offices in south Punjab cities of Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Rajanpur, Arifwala, Bahawalnagar, Khanewal, and arrested one operative each from Arifwala and Rajanpur.

  In the Sindh province, officials said they had arrested 11 JuD operatives and sealed six offices and six seminaries, but the group’s officials claimed 100 operatives had been detained 35 offices sealed. "Seven of the men and two of the seminaries belonged to Karachi," said Sindh Special Secretary Collin Kamran Dost

  In Balochistan, Police sealed a JuD office and a library on New Zarghoon Road in capital Quetta. However, no arrests were made.

  The Interior Ministry had issued detention orders for JuD chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and other leaders like Ameer Hamza, Yahya Mujahid and Abu Umer Qazi. Saeed has been put under house arrest. The name of a second detained leader could not be confirmed. Police continued to search for the other two.

  Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said Pakistan had launched a crackdown on the JuD to avoid being declared a ‘terrorist state’ by the United Nations. "Had the action not been taken, the UN would have declared Pakistan as a ‘terrorist state’ and imposed economic sanctions… We were left with no option but to take action against JuD," he told reporters at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Rawalpindi.

  The Jud said it would mount a legal challenge to the decision to close it down after the United Nations listed it as a terrorist organisation. Mohammad Talha Saeed, son of the LeT chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, condemned the ban, while claiming that the Jud was engaged in relief work. "Dawa was doing welfare work across Pakistan, but the relief work has been stopped," he told a congregation during Friday prayers at a mosque run by the organisation in Lahore. According to him, "There is no moral or legal justification for this action." Later he told that the group would "go to competent courts for our rights" and would resort to the International Court of Justice if necessary.

• December 11: The Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (front outfit for LeT) chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed was placed under house arrest for three months as the countrywide crackdown on the organisation continued.

  Police sealed Qudsia Mosque, the headquarters of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa in Chauburji Chowk, and 18 other offices throughout Punjab province. Five offices were sealed in Sialkot. 25 members of the organisation, including Ameer Hamza, Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, Maulana Naseer Hamza, Saifullah Mansoor, Da’awa’s director of public relations, Col (retd) Nazir Ahmed, and Rajanpur District president Talib Rehman, were detained. A large number of publications of the organisation were reportedly seized. Hafiz Saeed was detained at his Johar Town residence under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance. "Police have encircled the house of Hafiz Saeed and told him he cannot leave his home. They have told him that the detention order will be formally issued shortly," his spokesman Abdullah Montazir said. A Police official said detention orders had also been issued by the Punjab home department and raids were being conducted to arrest Yahya Mujahid, Abu Umer a number of other prominent members. Sources said that an office of the organisation on Chamberlain Road, in Gawalmandi, had been sealed a few days ago. Six members of the organisation were arrested from its main relief camp on the Karakoram Highway, near Ghazikot Township, on December 10. In Rawalpindi, Police sealed the group’s local office on Circular Road.

  In Peshawar, the NWFP capital, Police sealed the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa office in Fowara Chowk. However, Attiqur Rehman Chohan, the provincial spokesman for the Da’awa, told from an unspecified location that the organisation had decided to close its offices in Peshawar and other cities and suspend its activities for the time being. He said the group’s leaders were in touch with the provincial Government and major political parties and the issue would be raised in the national and provincial assemblies. The SFs also raided an office of the Da’awa in Parhana area of Mansehra District and arrested five of its activists. SFs had sealed the relief camp-cum-office a day before Eidul Azha.

  The group’s office in Quetta, capital of Balochistan, was also sealed.

  In Karachi, Police sealed the central office of the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa in Gulshan-i-Iqbal. City Police chief Waseem Ahmed said the office was sealed on a directive of the federal Government and efforts were being made to track down top leaders.

  A spokesman for the State Bank said the central bank had frozen bank accounts of the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa, its leaders and sister organisations — Al-Rashid Trust and Al-Akhtar Trust.

  "Instructions have been issued to seal Jama’at-ud-Da’awa offices in all the four provinces as well as Azad Kashmir," said Interior Ministry spokesman Shahidullah Baig.

• December 10: LeT chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and arrested ‘operations commander’ Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi were among those who met the ten terrorists involved in the multiple terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26, a senior Mumbai Police officer said. "Hafiz Saeed, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Abu Hamza and Kahfa are the four who played a prominent role in hatching conspiracy, training the terrorists and uting the plan," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria said. Arrested terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman has said that Saeed allegedly gave motivational speeches to the group of ten terrorists while they were training in Muridke in Pakistan, Maria said. Lakhvi, presently placed under arrest by Pakistani authorities, allegedly hatched the conspiracy of carrying out the attacks in Mumbai. "Lakhvi was also present to bid farewell to ten terrorists who left on November 22 from Karachi," Maria added. Hamza and Kahfa allegedly were with the group of ten terrorists throughout their entire training which lasted about a year and a half in four locations in Pakistan, Maria stated.

  A UN Security Council panel declared that Jama’at-ud-Da’awa, a Pakistan-based charity, is a front group for LeT, the terrorist group accused of orchestrating last month''s attacks that killed 195 persons in Mumbai. AP reported that the panel said Jama’at-ud-Da’awa is a front for the LeT and now subject to UN sanctions on terrorist organizations. The panel also designated four men linked to the Mumbai attacks as terrorists subject to sanctions. Designated as terrorists subject to UN sanctions were LeT chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, ‘operations commander’ Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Haji Muhammad Ashraf, its chief of finance and Mahmoud Mohammad Ahmed Bahaziq, a financier with the group. The Security Council''s al Qaeda and Taliban sanctions committee added them to its list of terrorists subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo under a council resolution adopted this year. The U.S. Treasury Department last week designated the men as terrorists and ordered any U.S. assets frozen.

  Saeed denied links with the LeT. "No LeT man is in Jama’at-ud-Da’awa and I have never been a chief of LeT," he said.

  The UN sanctions panel also described a number of trusts and foundations as aliases for the al-Rashid and al-Akhtar trusts, which have raised funds for Lashkar. According to the panel, the al-Rashid Trust can be equated with the al-Amin Welfare Trust, al-Amin Trust, al-Ameen Trust and al-Madina Trust. The al-Akhtar Trust aliases, the panel said, are Pakistan Relief Foundation, Azmat-e-Pakistan Trust and Azmat Pakistan Trust.

• December 9: The SFs crackdown on the LeT, which has been linked to the Mumbai terrorist attacks, will not cripple the banned organisation, a co-ordinator of the militant group has said. "We’re still well-organised and active," an unnamed LeT coordinator told. Speaking in a safe house near Lahore the paper said the militant put the organisation’s strength in the "thousands" in Pakistan. He said the group has "huge strength" and is concentrated in Pakistan’s tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan. It should not be surprising that Mohammad Ajmal Amir ‘Kasab,’ the LeT terrorist captured in India, is not a recognisable name because those who join his group are given other names, the coordinator said. "All those who join these organisations are given Arabic names," he said. "Sometimes to make them less conspicuous they’re given non-Arabic but purely Muslim names," as also in the fact that names are changed every six to eight months for the fighters. He denied that the group had to purchase recruits.

  Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, said the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa could be banned on the request of the UN Security Council. Talking to the media in United Nations, Hussain Haroon said that India has approached the Security Council to get the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa outlawed while he showed Pakistan’s readiness to ban the suspected outfit if United Nations requests to Pakistan, adding that its bank accounts could also be frozen.

  Pakistan has detained the LeT ‘operations commander’, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, and the JeM chief, Maulana Masood Azhar, Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar confirmed. "Lakhvi was picked up on December 8. Azhar has also been picked up," Mukhtar told.

• December 8: SFs arrested an alleged mastermind of the Mumbai terrorist attacks during a raid on a militant camp, two officials said. Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was among at least 15 people detained on December 7 after the raid on the camp run by the banned LeT in PoK, the officials said. "Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi is under arrest. He was an operational commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba," a senior security official told. Troops backed by a helicopter overran the camp close to Muzaffarabad, the PoK capital, briefly exchanging fire with militants there, a senior intelligence official said. He said more than 12 detainees were being questioned over any possible links to the multiple terrorist in Mumbai.

  The SFs raided the offices of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (the LeT front outfit) in Mansehra and Chakdara. The NWFP unit chief of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa, Attique Chohan, told that their charity centre called "Markaz-e-Hafsa" was raided in Mansehra by the SFs. He said some arrests of their personnel were also made and the centre and its record seized by the SFs. Another small office of the group in Chakdara in Lower Dir was also taken over by the SFs. However, he said their office in Peshawar was open. Attique Chohan said, "We are peaceful people and not involved in any act of terrorism. We are also against attacks like the one made in Mumbai."

  SFs are reported to have intercepted a car just outside Rawalpindi and arrested a suspected LeT militant.

  The army confirmed that it has begun an operation targeting banned organisations in the wake of the attacks in Mumbai last month, but did not name any organisation. "There have been arrests and investigations are ongoing," a statement said, adding further details would be released once preliminary investigations had been completed.

  LeT chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed condemned a raid on the outfit’s camp. "The operation against Jihadi organisations in Azad Kashmir is unwarranted and we strongly condemn it… The government has shown signs of weakness by targeting Kashmiri organisations," said Saeed. "India wants to crush the independence movement of Kashmir using the Mumbai attacks as a pretext," he added.

• December 7: Security forces have reportedly launched a ‘quiet’ crackdown on activists belonging to the banned LeT, also known as Jama’at-ud-Da’awa in different parts of the country and PoK. In Muzaffarabad, capital of the PoK, a major army operation was under way in the city suburbs against a site being used by the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa, which is headed by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed. Sources said that more than 20 members of the banned organisation, including ‘commander’ Zakiur Rehman Lakhwi, had been arrested.

  There are reports that similar action is planned in some cities and towns of Punjab province. However, reports of the crackdown could not be confirmed from the interior ministry or the Inter-Services Public Relations. Local residents in Muzaffarabad, however, said they had seen army personnel taking control of the area along Shawai Nullah, some five kilometers northwest of Muzaffarabad, where the organisation possesses a large plot of land on which several buildings had been built. There were unconfirmed reports of an exchange of fire. In Chehla Bandi, soldiers are reported to be checking vehicles bound for the Neelum Valley. However, a Jama’at-ud-Da’awa office-bearer denied that a crackdown had been launched on his organisation in other areas.

• December 5: The LeT chief, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, has advised India to refrain from hurling baseless accusations at Pakistan and focus its attention on solving its internal problems and providing justice to minorities. Muslim states have always given equal rights and protection to minorities, yet Muslims living in secular states have been deprived of their basic human rights and justice, he said during Friday sermon at the Jamia Qadsia mosque in Lahore. Saeed said India was indulging in politics of accusations and blaming Pakistan in order to hide its internal problems. He said India was trying unsuccessfully to counter several freedom and separatist movements in a number of Indian states as reaction to the excesses of Hindu Brahmins, especially the denial of peaceful co-existence to Muslims.

• December 4: Jama’at-ud-Da’awa officials denied any links with the banned terrorist group LeT at a press briefing at their centre in Muridke, 30km from Lahore. Abdullah Muntazir, deputy spokesman for the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa, said at the 75-acre complex that they wanted to refute ‘propaganda’ against them and clear their names in front of the national and international press. Yahya Mujahid, a spokesman of the group, said that although the group offered its philosophical support to militants in Kashmir, they condemned the Mumbai attacks. He added that neither the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa nor the LeT were involved in the attacks. On the status of the group’s leader, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, Muntazir stated that the government of Pakistan was "not yet so weak that it would hand over its own citizens to India."

  Interior Adviser Rehman Malik denied India had provided Pakistan a list of 20 wanted suspects, saying it had asked for three suspects who do not include Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the chief of the LeT. "They gave us three names, two of them are Indian nationals – Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon – and the third is Masood Azhar, the JeM chief," Malik told in Islamabad. He said the two Indian nationals were not on Pakistani soil, and India should provide evidence against Azhar so that the "law can take its own course". To a question regarding the alleged role of LeT in terrorism in India, Malik said the organisation and its activities had already been banned in Pakistan.

• December 3: India has blamed the Pakistan-based LeT for the Mumbai attacks. Besides seeking "strong action" against "elements from Pakistan" linked to the attacks, New Delhi has asked Islamabad to hand over 20 most wanted criminals and terrorists, including LeT chief Hafiz Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, which was rejected by Pakistan.

  Suspects wanted by India in the terrorist attacks on Mumbai will be tried in Pakistan if there is concrete evidence against them, President Asif Ali Zardari said. He told a television channel in an interview from Islamabad that if proof of wrongdoing surfaced, the men would be tried in Pakistani courts and sentenced. The state of Pakistan is in no way responsible for the Mumbai attacks, he said, which were the work of ‘stateless’, meaning non-state, actors. LeT, he said in answer to a question, is a banned organisation in Pakistan and all around the world. "If indeed they are involved, we would not know. Again, they are people who operate outside the system," he claimed.

• December 2: The Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (also known as Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT]) has reportedly expressed apprehension about an Indian missile strike on its complex. "Will India attack our centre?... Are they serious" said Abu Hassaan, chief administrator at Jama’at-ud-Da’awa headquarters, known as the Markaz-e-Tayyaba. LeT chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed has said that it will be unfortunate if India attacked his organisation’s headquarters in Muridke, as has been indicated in media reports, because the complex housed only educational institutions. In an interview with a TV channel, he denied that the centre contained any training facility for terrorists or jihadis and said that instead of blaming Pakistan India should focus on investigation of the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

  Aides of the LeT chief denied that their leader has any links to terrorists and termed Indian demands for his extradition as ‘ridiculous’. "Hafiz Saeed has never been convicted of any crime anywhere the world," Jama’at-ud-Da’awa spokesman Yahya Mujahid said. Rashid Minhas, the principal of one of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa’s schools, denounced the Mumbai attacks as un-Islamic since civilians were killed. He said, "We teach jihad because it’s part of Islam and we can’t remove it from holy Quran ... but we don’t give jihadi training."

  The US Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, on December 2 blamed the LeT for the multiple terrorist attacks in Mumbai. "The same group that we believe is responsible for Mumbai had a similar attack in 2006 attack on a train and killed a similar number of people," said McConnell, speaking at Harvard University.

• November 28: SFs killed seven militants of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in two separate gun-battles in the Bandipora and Awantipore areas.

  Official sources said that troops of Rashtriya Rifles and Bandipora Police launched a cordon-and-search operation immediately after receiving specific information regarding the presence of a heavily armed group of Pakistani militants at Gujjar Patti Shogbaba Sahib. During the search operation, an encounter occurred between the holed up militants and SFs that lasted for 15 hours. Sources said that five militants were killed when troops destroyed their hideouts in two residential houses of Lateef Khan and Bashir Khan besides two cowsheds. According to Police, all the five were Pakistani cadres of the LeT. They added that five AK-47 rifles, 13 magazines, cellular phones and a GPS set were recovered from the possession of slain militants.

  In another incident, troops of the Rashtriya Rifles and Awantipore Police targeted a militant hideout at Punzgam in the Pulwama district and shot dead two LeT militants who were hiding at a house in the neighbourhood. Officials identified one of the duo as Rayees Ahmed Wagay of Punzgam and said his associate was a Pakistani national.

• November 27: The LeT denied any involvement in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in India. The LeT "strongly condemns the series of attacks in Mumbai. The Lashkar has no association with any Indian militant group," said Abdullah Gaznavai, chief spokesman of the group.

• November 24: SFs killed a newly recruited LeT militant, identified as Riaz Ahmed Sheikh, in the Kutdhar area of Doda district. One 7.62 mm Chinese pistol with three pistol rounds, one hand grenade, one mobile phone and six AK rounds were recovered from his possession. Mohammad Sikander the owner of the house in which the slain militant was hiding has been arrested for questioning.

• November 20: A woman militant from PoK was among a group of four militants trapped at Chajla village in the Mendhar tehsil (revenue division) of Poonch district in an encounter with the SFs. Official sources said the group of four LeT militants, including a woman, has been engaged in a gun-battle with troops at Chajla since the morning. One of the militants, identified as Abdullah, was reportedly wounded in the encounter but he was carried away by his colleagues. The group was reported to have infiltrated from Behri Rakh in Mendhar sector about four days back. In initial round of firing with the militants, an Army soldier, Van Lal Huma, was killed.
  
  The grenade attack on a Police Station in Sopore was claimed by the LeT. The Station House Officer, Inspector Shafeeq Ahmed, sustained injuries in the grenade attack.

• November 8: Army and Jammu and Kashmir Police, in two separate counter-insurgency operations, shot dead eight top militants of the HM and LeT outfits — four each in the Doda and Poonch districts. The Senior Superintendent of Police of Doda district, Prabhat Singh, said that four hardcore HM militants, including a ‘district commander’, were killed during an encounter at Baleni Nullah in the Dessa area of Doda district.

• Troops foiled an infiltration attempt by a group of six militants killing four of them in an encounter on the LoC at Sabjian in the Poonch district. While two other militants managed escape, trooper M.K. Thappa was injured during the encounter with the militants. The militants were believed to be LeT cadres. Two AK rifles and a large quantity of ammunition and explosives were recovered from the slain militants.

• October 26: The identity of two more Kerala based militants of the LeT, who were killed in encounters in Jammu and Kashmir on October 6, has been established while another associate is suspected to have fled back to Kerala.. According to top police sources in Kerala, the two militants, identified as Abdul Faiz from Kannur and Muhammad Yasir alias Verghese Joseph of Kochi, who converted to Islam about a year back, were among four who were killed in the SF operations. Earlier, the police had identified the other two militants slain in Lolab valley as Mohammad Fayaz from Kannur and Abdul Rahim from Malappuram. "Only one among the five Kerala youth who had joined Pakistan-based LeT outfit survived the encounters in Lolab valley and had apparently fled back," Senior Superintendent of Police, Kupwara, Uttam Chand said.

  There was an intelligence report suggesting that Lashkar commander Abdullah had been on a recruitment spree under instructions from Pakistan's ISI and Kerala's Malappuram district was chosen as one of the targets in South India. The documents recovered from the killed militants, include a diagram and method to assemble IEDs in Malayalam. Central agencies had been monitoring certain leads which said a group of people hailing from Kerala along with LeT's support were trying to enter PoK through North Kashmir. LeT has been trying to make inroads into the country's hinterland and had sought recruits from various parts of the country.

• October 25: Two persons, Mohd Shafi Seer and Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, who were asked by militant groups to carry out grenade attack during polls, were arrested by the SFs from Handwara area of Kupwara district. One hand grenade each was recovered from them. While Seer was operating for Al Badr, Bhat was carrying out the assignment for LeT outfit. They were asked to lob hand grenades at public places to thwart people’s participation in upcoming elections.

• October 24: A suspected LeT militant, identified as Siraj Din, was arrested by SFs near Trikuta Complex General Bus Stand area of Jammu district. Six rounds of AK ammunition and a letter head of LeT were recovered from him.

• October 22: Two LeT militants were killed by security forces during a joint search operation at Watlar in the Ganderbal district. The killed militants were identified as Mohd Latief Chopan of Najma and Farooq Ahmed Sheikhi of Akhal.

• October 21: Meanwhile, a huge quantity of arms and ammunition including, 52 cartridges 7.62-MM, 4.5 Cordex Wire, one Satellite Phone, one Mobile Charger, four SIMs, one Stamp Pad with rubber Stamp of the LeT ‘District Commander’, one Magazine Pouch, one Blanket, one Pistol magazine, six Mobiles were recovered by the police at Sangoit in the Poonch district

• October 19: A top woman militant of the LeT, Halima Begum of Anantnag and her brother, Mohd Ashraf, were arrested along with a pistol, AK rounds and explosive devices by Police at Kud in the Udhampur district. Both have a record of deep involvement in militancy, and had a plan to assist a top Pakistani militant there.

  Army neutralized two LeT hideouts and arrested one militant at Sinkan in the Mendhar tehsil (revenue division) in Poonch district. Two pistols, two UBGLs, three magazines, 250 rounds of AK rifle and one ikom wireless set were recovered from the incident site.

• October 18: Army and police arrested an over ground worker of the LeT, identified as Mohd Farid, from Kalakot tehsil (revenue division) in the Rajouri district

• October 15: The Army recovered one Thoraya satellite telephone, three Korean mobile handsets, one rubber stamp bearing name of Zaffa Shah Mujahideen, ‘area commander’ of the LeT, one Chinese grenade, one pouch, one radio set, two AK magazines and 38 rounds, from Sangiot at Kalaban under Mendhar tehsil (revenue division) in the Poonch district, where two LeT militants and a soldier were reportedly killed during an encounter on October 14.

• October 14: Two hardcore militants of the LeT and an Army soldier were killed in a fierce gun battle at Sangiot village in the Kalaban area of Mendhar tehsil (revenue division) in Poonch district. The encounter started when the Army and the police intercepted a group of militants about a couple of kilometres from the LoC while trying to infiltrate. One of the two militants has been identified as Zaffa Shah, a top LeT commander hailing from PoK. The identity of his associate has not been ascertained so far but he too was believed to be a LeT activist. At least two to the three more militants were still hiding. Recoveries made from the encounter site so far include two AK rifles and two magazines.

• October 11: Three LeT militants were killed and a police constable, Nazir Ahmad, was wounded during an encounter at Badli Beri near Sogam in the Kupwara district. The slain militants were Pakistani nationals, identified as Abu Hafiz, Hafiz and Saqib. Three AK rifles, six magazines, 232 rounds and a UBGL were recovered from their possession.

• Another LeT militant was killed in the ongoing operation at Khellan Litter in the Pulwama district raising the toll in the gunbattle, which started on October 10, to two.

• October 10: An LeT ‘commander’, identified as Moeen, was shot dead in an encounter with SFs at Khellen Litter in the Pulwama district.

• October 9: Nearly 125 youths including a number of students have disappeared from a number of villages in remote and upper reaches of Doda district and were reported to have joined militancy during past three to four months. The LeT chief for Doda, Abu Kasha, and his deputy, Iqbal Malik, were reported to have played a major role in fresh recruitment of youths including students of 11^th and 12^th classes across the district.

• October 6: An LeT militant, Mir Mohammed, surrendered before police at Shahdara Sharief in the Rajouri district on October 6. He deposited two pistols, two grenades, three magazines and 21 rounds .

• October 4: A top militant commander of the LeT, identified as Ibrar Ahmed alias Abu Ubaid, was shot dead by security force personnel during an encounter at Dodimal in Targain area of Budhal in the Rajouri district.

• October 2: Two LeT militants were killed during in an encounter with Police and Army in dense apple orchards near Drawni at Nagbal in Zainapora locality of Shopian district. They were identified as Abdullah and Rayees Ahmed. Abdullah was a Pakistani national. Two AK-56 rifles were recovered from the possession of the slain militants.

• September 28: The security forces neutralised a hide out in the Mendhar area of Poonch district. While three LeT militants managed to escape under the cover of darkness, two blankets, socks and dresses were recovered from the incident site. "Based on tip off, a joint operation was launched by the troops of 7 Kumaon Regiment, 39 Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group in Behri Rakh area near village Chajjla of Mendhar tehsil at around 6.30 am", official sources said.

• September 26 and 27: In north Kashmir, Special Operations Group (SOG) of Handwara District Police and Army personnel killed a LeT militant identified as Abu Khubaib of Pakistan in Hafruda forest area. Officials claimed that Abu Khubaib was LeT's 'Launching Commander' in north Kashmir who had been operating in Ramhal and Rajwar forest areas for the last few years. One AK 47 rifle, three magazines and 38 rounds besides one blanket and a diary were recovered from the slain militant.

• September 22: Two Pakistani 'commanders' of the LeT were shot dead by a joint force of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, Army and CRPF during an encounter in the Sumbal area of Baramula district.The slain militants were identified as 'divisional commander' Tahir Pathan alias Abu Tahir and 'district commander' Abdullah alias Abu Maaz. Two AK-47 rifles and a satellite phone were recovered from the encounter site.
  
  Two militants and an Army personnel were killed at Kalsan in the Poonch sector. Troops opened fire when two intruders, who had taken shelter in a forest area tried to escape taking cover of firing by Pakistan army. While both the intruders were gunned down, in the exchange of firing, an Army jawan Naik Tape Azo was also killed. With this killing, a total of four infiltrators and two Army personnel have been killed during two days exchange of firing. As reported, Pakistan army had pushed a group of 8-10 infiltrators, all believed to be foreign mercenaries of LeT, from their Kabarstan post opposite Kalsan forward post of Indian Army. Two AK-47 rifles, two AK-56 rifles, 200 rounds, 16 grenades and food packets were recovered from the encounter site but bodies of slain militants couldn’t be recovered due to continued firing from across the LoC.

• September 21:Two top LeT militants, including a ‘district commander’ of the outfit, Abu Sanwariya, a suspected Pakistani national , were killed during an encounter by a joint force of police, Army and Border Security Force at Dalwa in Gool of Ramban district.

  At least two militants and a trooper were killed during a gun battle along the LoC in the Poonch district. A group of at least 8 to 10 militants were spotted in forward Indian post of Kalsan, opposite Kabarstan post of Pakistan army. As they started heading towards Indian side, troops started taking positions, Pakistan army opened firing on Indian positions in a bid to give covering fire to the infiltrators, believed to be the cadres of the LeT outfit. Simultaneously, the militants also started heavy firing on the Army personnel.

• September 19: Police arrested three LeT militants, Sajjad Ahmed, Rafiq Ahmed and Raj Mohd, from Upper Chakka in Bhaderwah area of Doda district. They had recently snatched two mobile telephones from the personnel of the Forest Protection Force (FPF). They were reported to have given the mobile phones to LeT ‘district commander’ Ashraf Hussain. The report added Ashraf along with his at least two body-guards was also camping at Chakka in Bhaderwah for last 7 days. Despite massive searches for him launched by security forces and police, he reportedly managed to escape.

• September 17: An Over Ground Worker of the LeT managed to escape from police custody in Manjakot area of Rajouri district.

• September 16: A number of LeT militants, arrested in different parts of the State during last couple of years especially the Pakistanis and Pakistan trained local cadres, had confessed during their questioning in the past few months that top LeT brass, based in Pakistan, Middle East, PoK and Kashmir were having close links with SIMI and even training their cadre in triggering blasts.

  Over 12 civilians were injured and another abducted by the LeT militants at village Bharat in the Doda district.

• September 15: Two Army personnel and two SPOs were killed and one police man was wounded by three suspected LeT militants during an encounter at Tararan Wali dhok in the Surankot area of Poonch district. The militants, including two foreign mercenaries, however, managed to escape. The slain security force personnel were identified as Jaswant Singh, Chaman Vishnu Hari, Maqsood Hussain Shah and Mohammed Mahroof. Police subsequently recovered two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and one magazine of AK rifle from the incident site.

• September 6: Security forces killed a top wanted ‘divisional commander’ of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), identified as Qari Usman, in an encounter in the Sopore area of Baramulla district on. Two of his associates, however, managed to escape from the incident site.

  September 3: Police arrested two locally trained militants belonging to Al-Badr and LeT from the Wader and Mawar areas of Handwara.

• August 27: August 27: Eleven persons, including three Army soldiers, five civilians and three militants, were killed while six others, including three soldiers, two civilians and a woman, were injured in Jammu as three fidayeen (suicide squad) militants, who had infiltrated in the early hours of August 27-morning from Kanachak sector, managed to hijack a truck at Gadla, and traveled more than 15 kilometers before taking shelter in a house at Chinore on the old Jammu-Akhnoor road taking nine persons hostage. The operation which started at about 7 AM concluded after approximately 18 hours. Two soldiers and three civilians were killed before the militants took shelter in the house of one Billoo Ram Bhagat at Chinore at about 6.45 am while two civilians, a Territorial Army soldier and three militants were killed and a woman was wounded in the gun-battle inside the house which concluded in the mid-night. 10 civilians were held hostage by the militants soon after they intruded into the house of Billoo Ram. Official sources confirmed that all three militants appeared to be members of suicide squad of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit and were believed to be Pakistanis though their identity hasn’t been established immediately. They were part of the same group which had infiltrated into Indian Territory from Kanachak sector on the intervening night of August 25 and 26.

• August 23: A LeT militant, identified as Aijaz Ahmed Wagay, was killed in an encounter with the security forces at Btnar-Lolab in the Kupwara district. An AK assault rifle, three AK magazines, 122 rounds of AK ammunition, two hand grenades and a mobile phone were recovered from his possession.

• August 22: Troops arrested a Lashkar-e-Taiba militant in Doda district.

• August 19: An over ground worker of the LeT was arrested in the Ramban district and two grenades were recovered from his possession.

• August 14: SFs arrested two LeT militants along with two grenades in the Poonch town. They have been identified as Farooq Ahmed Naik and Mohammed Ishaq. Senior Superintendent of Police (Doda) Raghubir Singh said the militants had been tasked by LeT commanders Mudassar and Iqbal to lob grenades in Doda town.

• August 13: A top LeT militant, ‘commander’ Abdul Rashid alias Abdullah, surrendered before the security forces in the Bhaderwah area of Doda district and handed over one Pika gun with one ammunition box. Abdullah was reportedly an ‘A’ category militant and was active since 2002.

• August 12: A Lashkar-e-Taiba militant, Rasheed Ahmed, surrendered before the security forces in Doda district.

• August 11: A top Lashkar-e-Taiba ‘commander’ surrendered before the security forces in the Bhaderwah area of Doda district. He has been identified as Rashid Ahmed, an ‘A’ category militant and ‘tehsil commander’ of the outfit.

• August 8: SFs arrested a LeT militant, identified as Mehboob Ahmed alias Manga, along with two grenades from Bhaderwah in the Doda district. Preliminary questioning of the suspect revealed that he was tasked by LeT commanders to target the SFs and crowded places in the Bhaderwah area. He was allegedly earlier involved in grenade throwing in the Seri Bazaar on June 11, 2007.

• August 5: Police foiled an attempt to target a temple in the Doda town and arrested a LeT militant, identified as Ahmed Itoo. Senior Superintendent of Police, Raghubir Singh, said that on the receipt of specific information that a militant was trying to lob grenade on a temple, police were deployed in the temple premises and subsequently as soon as the militant entered the temple premises he was arrested. A Chinese grenade was recovered from his possession.

  Security forces arrested a LeT militant, identified as Nazir Ahmed, who was allegedly involved in a grenade attack at the Banihal bus stand in Doda on July 17 in which 42 persons were injured.

• July 27: SFs killed two militants - Abdullah, 'Battalion Commander' of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Abu Baker of Jaish-e-Mohammed - in an encounter at village Gujarpati Surigam in the Kupwara district. Abdullah was reportedly involved in killing of two policemen in the Sogam area of Kupwara district in May 2008.

• July 22: A Lashkar-e-Taiba militant of Kupwara district was arrested by the Army as soon as he infiltrated into Indian territory from the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district. Shamas Din is reported to have gone across the LoC for training on August 2, 2006 and was returning without weapons when he was arrested.

• July 21: Both the Pakistani militants of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), who had attacked the Amarnath Yatra convoy and its paramilitary protection on July 20-evening, were killed by the SFs on July 21. The slain militants were identified as Syed Abid Ahmed alias Akash a resident of Sialkot in Pakistan and Sageer Ahmed Shah, a resident of Abbotabad in Pakistan.

• July 20: An Army Major and a policeman were killed and three SF personnel were injured in an encounter with the militants at Jarh Wali in the Rajouri district. The SFs had launched an operation after receiving information from three militants arrested at the Jammu Railway Station a day earlier that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) ‘commander’ Azasa Shah alias Hujefa along with his three body-guards was hiding in the house of Mohammed Sharif at Jarh Wali. In the ensuing encounter, while Major Bhanu Partap and policeman Anjeev Rana were killed and three soldiers wounded, Azasa Shah and his associates managed to escape.

  SFs killed two militants in an encounter that ensued after a cordon-and-search operation at Chali Wan in the Bandipora district. The slain militants were later identified as ‘launching commander’ Abu Zaid alias Abu Zarr alias Abu Zubair, a foreign militant of the LeT in Bandipora, and Gowhar Ahmad alias Akash, a local militant of the Al Badr outfit.

• July 9: LeT militants - Mohammad Amin Beg and his Pakistani associate Abu Qari - were killed in an encounter with the troops at Sumriyal forest in the Kupwara district.

  A LeT militant, identified as Abu Farhat of Pakistan, was killed in an encounter with the security forces at Shog Baba in the Bandipora area of Kupwara district. However, two of his associates managed to escape from the incident site.

• July 8: Two LeT militants were killed in an encounter with the SFs at Shumriyal village in the Kupwara district. However, three others managed to escape from the incident site.

• July 5: The SFs killed a hardcore militant of the LeT at Panjan Gali under the jurisdiction of Doda police station. The militant was identified as Tawheed Ahmed Bhat of Doda.

• July 3: Anantnag District Police and Army personnel killed Abu Aatif alias Shadaakh, a Pakistani ‘divisional commander’ of the LeT, along with his Pakistani bodyguard, Syed Moin, during an encounter at Niaina Batpora village in Pulwama-Anantnag belt and arrested a young woman, Mubeena Akhtar, believed to be Abu’s wife. Two AK-56 rifles, one satellite phone and three mobile phones were recovered from the possession of the slain militants. Sources said that on the basis of some diaries recovered from the destroyed hideout, Pulwama Police conducted a raid on another militant hideout near a sports stadium in Pulwama town and recovered a large number of CDs besides INR 1, 25, 000. The report added that Abu had planned and executed suicide attack on a CRPF formation at Ramur in Uttar Pradesh on January 1, 2008 and an attack on Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore on December 28, 2005.

• June 27: Two militants of the LeT outfit and two soldiers were killed in a daylong gun battle between militants and the Army at Khachpathri, near Kangan, in the Ganderbal area of Srinagar. Both the militants killed were unidentified but believed to be Pakistani cadres of the LeT. However, LeT spokesman, Abdullah Ghaznavi, said that five Army officials, including an officer, got killed. He claimed at 7:00 pm (IST) that none of the militants had got killed but said that the gun battle was still underway.

• June 24: Police neutralised a hide-out of the LeT and recovered a large quantity of explosive devices, including five kg RDX, 12 grenades, 100 AK rounds and a large quantity of incriminating documents from a hide-out of the militants at Gandoh in the Doda district.

• June 21: Two LeT militants, Abu Shams and Abu Javed, and one Central Reserve Police Force constable, K. C. Sahu, were killed and four security force personnel wounded at Shopribagh in the Hazratbal-Ganderbal belt of Srinagar.

  Two LeT militants, identified as Nazir Ahmed alias Abu Mohammad and Pakistani Abdullah, were killed by the troops during an encounter at Nariwan forest of Pir Panjal mountain range in the Shopian-Rajouri belt. Abu Mohammad was LeT's ‘divisional commander’ for Rajouri-Poonch belt.

• June 20: Security forces killed a Pakistani commander of the LeT, identified as Mehboob Ahmad Afridi alias Jugnu alias Faisal, in an operation at Khoipora in the Handwara area of Kupwara District. He was reportedly functioning as the "district commander" of LeT in Sopore.

• June 19: Troops foiled a major infiltration attempt on the LoC at Salhutri in the Krishna Ghati area of Poonch district killing five suspected LeT militants while two others managed to escape. Reports said Pakistan army was also reported to have fired some shots on the Indian side.

• June 16: Police arrested one Lashkar-e-Taiba LeT militant, identified as Irshad Ahmad Hajam, from Chinar Park in Handwara of Kupwara district. The arrested militant had planned to carry out grenade attack on Handwara Police Station. One hand grenade was also recovered from his possession. During questioning, Hajam revealed that he along with other LeT cadres were assigned the task of carrying out hand grenades attacks on different targets like Police Stations, public rallies in Handwara and Kupwara by their 'commanders' Abu Hurrera and Abu Wakas. Acting on the information provided by Hajam, Police also arrested three more LeT cadres along with two grenades from each of them at Handwara market, Chogal and Kulangam Crossing respectively. They have been identified as Shahnawaz Shah, Tariq Ahmad Bhat and Fayaz Ahmad Lone.

• June 10: The security forces arrested a LeT militant, Fiaz Ahmed Bhatt, from Jehand village in the Doda district. No recoveries were made from him at the time of his arrest. Fiaz had joined the outfit in 2007.

• June 3: SFs shot dead three top militants of the LeT at Peer Gali in the Rajouri district. The militants were heading towards Kashmir from the Pir Panjal mountain when they were intercepted by the SF personnel and subsequently killed. The encounter was continuing till last reports came in as two more militants were holed-up in the area.

• June 2: Security forces killed two militants of the LeT in an encounter at Dar Mohalla in the Bandipora district.

  Two more militants of the LeT were killed in an encounter with the troops at Dangarpora in the Baramulla district. Officials identified the slain militants as Abu Mujahid alias Abdullah and Abu Khalid alias Haji, both Pakistanis.

  Security forces killed two LeT militants, identified as ‘district commander’ Usman Bhai and Abu Jibran, while retaliating to an ambush by the militants at Chottipora in the Handwara area.

• May 29: Security forces shot dead a ‘deputy divisional commander’ of the LeT outfit and his woman associate, who was also an active militant, in an encounter at Khandipura under the jurisdiction of Doda police station in Doda district. The slain couple was identified as Shabir Ahmed Ittu a.k.a. Abu Rizwan and Samreena Bano. Shabir Ahmed, according to sources, was an ‘A’ category militant active since 1995 and had recently been designated as ‘deputy divisional commander’ of the LeT. He was also involved in the Kulhand massacre of May 1, 2006 in which 22 Hindus were killed in the Udhampur district. Sources said Samreena Bano had joined the LeT a few months back. She was arrested on January 23, 2008 and had subsequently admitted to her involvement in militancy related activities. After being released on bail, she had again started working with the LeT outfit. Samreena was an over ground worker and was under police surveillance.

  The Kupwara district police killed a Pakistani militant of the LeT at Bumhama village. However, two of his associates managed to escape from the incident site. Residents later revealed to Police that one of the escapees was a Pakistani militant and another was a Kashmiri militant identified as Veqas. One AK-47 rifle, one Chinese pistol, one mobile phone and a satellite telephone were recovered the incident site.

• May 27: The United States Treasury said it had decided to freeze the assets of four leaders of the Pakistan-based LeT, including its chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed.

• May 25: The dead body of a LeT militant, identified as Abdul Rashid alias Abu Maza, a resident of Nehla Charwari in the Ramban district, was recovered by police from Masjid Sharief Charwari. Sources said a letter written on behalf of the LeT outfit was found near the body which said Rashid was killed on May 22 after being hit by a stone on his head.

• May 12: The SFs killed a Pakistani militant of the LeT, identified as Abu Maseh, in an encounter at Surankote in the Poonch district. A Special Police Officer, Shamim Ahmed, was reportedly injured in the operation.

• May 11: Four civilians, two soldiers and two militants of the LeT were killed in an encounter in the Samba town of Jammu. Among the slain civilians were chief photographer of Daily Excelsior Ashok Sodhi, a prominent leader from Samba Hoshiar Singh and his wife, and another woman. 16 SF personnel, including the Superintendent of Police (Operations), Mubassir Latifi, and two women were injured in the day long gun-battle. Official sources said that two militants wearing Army uniform intruded into the house of Hoshiar Singh, general secretary of Indian National Democratic Party, in Samba town at 5.58am (IST) by scaling the boundary wall. After killing Hoshiar Singh and his wife on the spot, the militants subsequently moved towards the Kaili Mandi area and took hostage three women and two children. In the consequent encounter, two soldiers, Aziz Ahmed and Atul Negi, and a woman were killed. At about 5pm, the SFs stormed the house where the militants were hiding and shot dead both of them. Two AK-47 rifles, one rifle grenade launcher, some eatables, a wire cutter and a night vision device were recovered from their possession.

• May 3: One LeT militant, identified as Qasim Din, was arrested by the SFs in the Bonjwah area of Kishtwar district. He was a close associate of Abu Hamza, a top LeT militant, who was gunned down by the SFs at Bonjwah four days back. Qasim had managed to escape in the encounter in which Abu Hamza was killed and had since then taken shelter in Kanuao forest. One SLR with two magazines and 26 rounds were recovered from him.

• April 30: India was among the countries worst affected by terrorism with militant attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and in the Northeast, attacks by Naxalites and attacks elsewhere in the country taking a toll of more than 2,300 lives in 2007, the US State Department said. The State Department, in its annual report on terrorism, said terrorist activities along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir are on the decline but Pakistan-based militant outfits like the LeT and other terrorist groups continue to plan attacks in the Valley. "Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and other Kashmir-focused groups continued regional attack planning. In 2007, Kashmir-focused groups continued to support attacks in Afghanistan, and operatives trained by the groups continued to feature in Al-Qaeda transnational attack planning," it said.

• April 29: A top Pakistani militant of the LeT, Mohammed Maqbool alias Abu Hamza, and a police constable, Kikkar Singh, were killed in an encounter at village Muslai in the Kishtwar district. Abu Hamza was active in the Kishtwar and Doda districts for the last four to five years and had been rated as ‘A’ category militant.

  The Baramulla Police arrested four persons, including a branch manager of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd, for illegal exchange of foreign currency and its subsequent supply to militants of the LeT.

  The LeT spokesman, Abdullah Ghaznavi, informed Daily Excelsior over telephone that all of his organisation's holed up militants had managed to escape in the 36-hour-long gun-battle in the Rajwar forest area of Handwara-Zachaldara belt. He claimed that as many as 10 troopers, including a Commanding Officer and a Major, were killed in the two-day long encounter. Officials while confirming the encounter, however, stated that no militant, civilian or police personnel were killed or injured in the two-day-long gun-battle.

• April 28: SFs in Kishtwar arrested a LeT militant, Mohammad Ibrahim alias Abu Mussa, from the Pathro area. From his possession, police recovered one AK-47 rifle, three magazines and 90 rounds of ammunition.

• April 24: The Superintendent of Police (Handwara), Dr Haseeb Mughal, said that about 30 militants of the LeT and JeM were still active in Handwara-Kandi belt of Kupwara district.

• April 22: The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Sriprakash Jaiswal, replying to questions in the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) said that the banned SIMI has links with terrorist groups, including the LeT. He said that the links have been revealed in investigations into a number of cases.

  The involvement of Pakistan-based outfits has been observed in most of the terrorist attacks in India as groups from across the border continue to sponsor terrorist and subversive activities in the country, the Union Home Ministry said in its Annual Report for 2007-08. "The hand of Pakistan-based terrorist organisations - LeT and JeM - and, increasingly of the Bangladesh-based HuJI, known to have close links with ISI, has been observed in most of these cases," the 167-page report said. The incidents showed these groups have been using sleeper cells in the country to carry out such activities, and have also been using the territory of other neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh and Nepal, it said.

• April 20: Awantipora police arrested three OGWs, identified as Abdul Rashid Sheikh, Assadullah Gani and Ashiq Hussain Bhat, from the Padgampora area. Four hand grenades were recovered from them, an official spokesman said and disclosed that all the three OGWs were assigned the task by LeT’s Pakistani militants to carry out grenade attacks on the convoys of the SFs on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.

• April 19: The SFs in a day long gun battle killed four heavily armed militants in the Rang forest area, about 6-km ahead of Warnow in the Kupwara district. Three of the slain militants, residents of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, were identified as Amjad Bhai, Abu Saifullah and Irshad Ahmed. While Amjad Bhai was a top wanted ‘district commander’ of the JeM who had been operating in the Lolab area for the last six years, Abu Saifullah and Arshad were both cadres of the LeT. SSP, Kupwara, Vijay Kumar, confirmed the death of four militants said that four AK rifles and a number of grenades were among the arms and ammunition seized at the site of the encounter.

• April 18: SFs arrested two militants of the LeT outfit from Seri Bazaar in the Bhadarwah town of Doda district and recovered some arms, ammunition and incriminating documents from their possession. They were identified as Ikhlaq Ahmed (code name Muzamil Bhat) and Abdul Samad Hajam. From their possession, SFs recovered one Chinese pistol with one magazine and five rounds, two mobile telephones, INR 2050, one purse with LeT sticker, one head band of LeT and a large quantity of incriminating material.

• April 15: A soldier, identified as Dalip Singh, was killed during an encounter between the SFs and a group of LeT militants at village Khari in the Ramban.

• April 14: SFs killed a ‘district commander’ of the LeT in an encounter in the Harwan area of Srinagar. He was identified as Zakaria, a Pakistani militant. LeT spokesman Abdullah Gazali confirmed the death of Zakaria but said that he would be issuing a statement after getting all details.

• April 12: The SFs in an encounter killed a ‘district commander’ of the LeT, identified as Shabir Ahmad Bhat alias Mansoor, at Peer Mohalla in the Chakura village of Pulwama district. According to police, Mansoor was a listed "A" category militant of the outfit and had crossed over to Pakistan in 2001 and returned to Valley in October 2006.

• April 11: JeM and LeT, the Pakistan-based terrorist groups, are among the 44 outfits designated as ‘Foreign Terrorist Organisations’ (FTO) by the US. Besides these two, other groups active in India — the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami and Pakistan-based HuM — are also in the FTO list issued by the office of the coordinator for counter terrorism of the US Department of State.

• April 7: All the religious outfits which were banned by General Pervez Musharraf during his military rule would approach the Supreme Court of Pakistan and seek restoration, chief of the proscribed LeT group. "The ban was a step that the retired General took only to please America and now it is abundantly clear that people have rejected his policies," Hafiz Saeed, LeT (now known as Jama’at-ud-Da’awa) chief told The News. He criticised President Musharraf's Kashmir policy and alleged that the 'U-turn' taken by the Musharraf Government on Kashmir had badly damaged the cause of the Kashmiris' ‘freedom struggle’.

• March 23: Three police personnel and a CRPF constable died in an encounter with militants on the outskirts of capital Srinagar in which they succeeded in killing Abu Faisal of Pakistan, a 'divisional commander' of the LeT. The gunfight ensued after the security forces surrounded a house in the Telbal locality, where some militants were hiding. According to the Police press release, Abu Faisal was responsible for a number of subversive acts and armed attacks in the Kangan-Ganderbal belt.

• March 21: Two children, Mohammad Afzal and Akram Ashraf, were killed in a grenade explosion in the Gawari area of Doda district. Police said that some unidentified militants lobbed a grenade near a house at Gawari village leading to the death of two boys who were playing near their house. Police sources added that the militants lobbed the grenade to avenge the killing of four LeT militants in the same area.

• March 19: The Doda district police and Army shot dead four militants of the LeT outfit, including a 'district commander', in an encounter at Gwari Shah under the jurisdiction of Gandoh police station. Two police personnel sustained injuries in the operation. The slain militants were identified as 'district commander' Imtiaz Hussain alias Abu Turab, Sadam Hussain, Suraf Nawaz alias Mehnaz and Sagir Ahmed of Pakistan.

• March 16: SFs killed Hafiz Naasir, one of the most wanted militants and the Kashmir valley chief of the LeT, in an encounter at village Chatlura near Sopore town in the Baramulla district. Lt. Col. M. S. Kadam, the officiating Commanding Officer of Rashtriya Rifles (22 Battalion), and another soldier, identified as Pradeep Kumar, are reported to have died and four SF personnel injured in the encounter. Hafiz Naasir, a Pakistani militant, had been appointed sometime in 2007 as LeT operational chief in Kashmir after working in the Valley for about ten years. Deputy Inspector General of Police (north Kashmir), Dr. B Srinivas, described Naasir as the most wanted militant in the Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara districts.

• March 15: A LeT militant was arrested along with electronic gadgets, including a laptop, the police said. The police raided the house of Shabir Ahmed alias Pappu in the Sabra village on March 14-night and recovered a laptop and pen drive from his possession, they said. The laptop recovered from Pappu originally belonged to slain LeT 'divisional commander' Abu Umar, the police said, adding Umar was involved in the killing of Deputy Superintendent of Police Shelly Singh.

• March 14: Police in the Chakwal city of Punjab province in Pakistan arrested four persons on charges of their alleged links with the banned LeT.

• March 12: A militant of the LeT was killed by the security forces in a gun-battle at Rampore in the Sopore area of Baramulla district. While Defence sources confirmed the death of one militant, Police officials insisted that three militants of the group were "believed to be dead." The Deputy Inspector General of Police (North Kashmir) said that no dead body had been recovered till late night. Unnamed officials said that Lashkar-e-Taiba's radio intercepts since the evening were also mentioning death of three militants.

• March 10: Police claimed to have foiled a plan to carry out Fidayeen (suicide squad) attack at Srinagar by the LeT. Following an intelligence outfit that the LeT cadres were planning to carry out a suicide attack in the city, security forces carried out a raid on a house in the Harwan area and recovered police uniforms, pouches, three sewing machines, six hand grenades, seven AK magazines, 200 rounds of ammunition, one 2 inch mortar, one Thuraya phone and some coded documents.

• March 7: Police unearthed a Hawala racket supplying money to the LeT operatives in the Kandi and Buddal areas of Rajouri district. The Police conducted series of raids in the Kandi area and arrested Zulfikar, brother of a slain HM militant Abdul Qayoom, who died in July 2007, and Muhammad Qadir of Larkuti, while they were purchasing shoes and other food items for militants operating in the area. "The police team also recovered Rs 1.5 lakh of hawala money from the possession of the arrested persons. The money was to be handed over to LeT commander Saqib (operating in Kandi and Buddal areas)", sources said.

• March 5: SFs killed a holed up militant in the overnight operation at Chitti Bandi in the Bandipora district. One militant had died in the initial round of firing and another was trapped inside a residential house. Sources said that troops destroyed the target hideout, killing the holed up militant. Official sources said that one of the two slain militants was identified as Abu Abdullah alias Mohammad Saleem, a Pakistani national. They stated that both the militants belonged to the LeT. A defence spokesman stated that both the militants were killed at a time when they were planning a strike on the former counter-insurgent and current legislator from Bandipora, Usman Majeed.

• March 2: SFs arrested two Over-Ground Workers of the LeT, identified as Sajjad Ahmed Bhat and Riyaz Ahmed Shah, in the Chakora area of Pulwama district.

  Police arrested a militant and his five associates including two women, from the outskirts of Doda town when they were smuggling a consignment of arms and ammunition from Kulgam to Doda district. The arms were being smuggled for a ‘divisional commander’ of the LeT outfit.

• February 15: A top Pakistani militant of the LeT outfit involved in the November 23, 2007 bomb blasts in various courts across Uttar Pradesh was killed along with his associate in an encounter with police in the Pulwama district. Self-styled district commander Abdul Rahman alias Rehman Bhai, a Pakistani, and a local militant Moin Ahmed Mir were killed at Niloora-Aglar village. Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda told reporters that the slain LeT commander was involved in the November 23 blasts in Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow courts in which 13 civilians were killed. "As per the UP police investigation, the LeT group that was responsible for sending arms and ammunition for attack at Rampur is the same group to which Rehman belongs", he said, adding "Rehman was part of the group headed by Abu Aatif which had supplied the arms to the Rampur attackers." The investigations also revealed that Rehman was closely associated with LeT militants not only in the Kashmir Valley but outside the State, he said.

• February 12: SF personnel shot dead three LeT militants in an encounter at village Sarhuti under the jurisdiction of Mendhar police station in the Poonch district. A fourth militant, however, is reported to have escaped from the incident site. With this, nine militants, including six infiltrators, have been killed in the past one week in Mendhar sector.

• February 7: A top militant of the LeT, identified as Showkat Ali alias Abu Haroon (set code Victor 6), surrendered before the Special Operations Group (SOG) Jammu.

• February 5: SFs shot dead two suspected LeT militants in an encounter at Bindi Gala, about three kilometers inside the Line of Control in the Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district.

• February 2: Three top LeT militants, belonging to Pakistan, and two police personnel, including a constable and a Special Police Officer, were killed while soldier was injured as security forces foiled an infiltration attempt on Line of Control in the Ghani forests of Mendhar sector in Poonch district. The operation was still on till the reports last came in.

• January 27: The Karnataka Police is reported to have recently arrested a cook and a medical student for alleged terrorist links. The duo revealed that they had plans of bombing the Hubli airport. During the interrogation of Mohammad Ghouse and his associate Assadullah Abbubukar, the police learnt that Ghouse's father Mohammad Naseeruddin is a LeT operative and has received training in Pakistan. Intelligence Bureau sources said that Naseerruddin is a trained suicide bomber, who was trained at Muzafarabad in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Assadullah reportedly met Ghouse at a religious meeting in Hubli in 2007, and was influenced by the latter to take up the jihadi cause. The police have also recovered CDs and maps of various installations from the duo.

• January 24: A female militant of the LeT outfit, active for the last three years, was arrested by the Doda police. She was stated to be very close to LeT ‘divisional commander’, Shabir Ittoo, and actively worked for the outfit in Doda and its adjoining localities. Senior Superintendent of Police, Manohar Singh, while confirming the arrest said 23-year-old Samrina Bano, daughter of Ghulam Nabi Shah of Doda, was undergoing nurse training at the Health Department in Doda. She was very close to the LeT divisional commander and was instrumental in shifting cash consignments and arms and ammunitions for the militants. Intelligence agencies had reportedly intercepted messages of the LeT divisional commander who was in constant touch with Samrina Bano. This is the third such incident during the past six months when a female militant was arrested in the Jammu region. On September 7, 2007, the Jammu police had arrested a law student, Nahida Altaf, who was close to Saifullah Karri of the JeM. Karri was killed in a joint operation of the Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir police. In similar case, Kishtwar police arrested two sisters from the Sangram Bhatta area. One of the girls was arrested with a HM and INR 200000 was also recovered from their possession.

  A HM militant was arrested by the SOG of Jammu Police from a rented house at Dogra Hall in Jammu city. He was working as a Supervisor with a Chandigarh-based English newspaper to hide his credentials. The militant was identified as Riyaz Ahmed Shah alias Raja, a resident of Shangran in the Anantnag district. Preliminary investigations revealed that Raja, a ‘B’ category militant, was involved in the killing of a civilian Jabbar Khanday in 2005 under the jurisdiction of Dooru police station.

• January 23: Bharat Bhushan, a Village Defence Committee member, was abducted and subsequently killed by militants of the LeT in the Doda district. The killing has been described as revengeful action as the deceased had fought valiantly with militants in the same area resulting in the killing of two LeT cadres three days back.

• January 21: All the three holed up militants of the LeT were killed by the SFs at the residence of two activists of the ruling People’ Democratic Party (PDP) at Mandigam village in the Handwara area of Kupwara district in a 30-hour-long gun-battle. Sources said that the encounter came to an end at 1130 hours. All three militants were killed when SFs destroyed their hideout at the twin houses of PDP activists, Ashiq Hussain Parray and Mushtaq Ahmed Mir. Officials said that Major Parmar and another soldier were wounded in the encounter. LeT spokesman Abdullah Ghaznavi identified the slain militants as Abdullah Gauri, Abu Issa and Abu Faidullah. He also claimed that nine soldiers, including a Major, were killed in the gun-battle.

  SFs killed two more militants of the Lashkar-e-Taiba in a gun-battle at Alyalpora village in Shopian district. They were identified as ‘battalion commander’ Tahir-ul-Islam and Mohammad Hanief Dar.

• January 20: One of the LeT militants, holed up in a house at Mandigam village in Handwara was killed by the SFs.

• January 15: Security forces killed Abu Kital alias Abu Hamza, ‘district commander’ of the LeT, in an encounter in the Bandipora district.

• January 13: Personnel of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and Rashtriya Rifles killed two militants of the LeT outfit in separate encounters in the Doda district. According to Manahor Singh, Senior Superintended of Police, two unidentified LeT militants were killed in Shonsh and Banshal areas, under the Doda police station.

• January 12: Troops cordoned the house of one Mangta Bhat at village Bikhrain under the jurisdiction of Doda police station and shot dead two top LeT militants who had taken shelter in the house. The slain cadres were identified as Altaf Hussain and Irshad Ahmed.

  A militant of the LeT outfit, identified as Farooq Ahmed Bhat, was killed by troops in the Bhagwah area of Doda district. Bhat was a ‘B’ grade militant of the LeT outfit and was active in Doda district since 2003.

• January 10: A suspected LeT cadre, Abbas Khan alias Akhdas Khan alias Mohsin Alam, was arrested for his alleged involvement in a fake currency racket in Kolkata, by the detective department from a house at Chamru Singh Lane in East Kolkata’s Narkeldanga area. He had earlier been convicted by a Gujarat court for the Godhra violence but was released on bail. He had jumped parole and remained untraceable. An unspecified amount of fake currency notes of INR 500 and INR 1,000 denomination were recovered from him. Khan was subsequently remanded in police custody till January 15.

• January 5: A top LeT commander Abu Muslim was found dead at Seeldhar in the Gool area of Ramban district. While local people claimed that the militant had died due to illness, official sources said an exact reason is yet to be ascertained.

  Security forces (SFs) arrested an OGW of LeT from Baramulla district. He was identified as Javed Ahmed Lone. One pistol, a pistol magazine, 38 rounds of pistol ammunition, two electric detonators and one remote control IED circuit with battery, were recovered from his possession.

  SFs rescued two youths from captivity of LeT after raiding a hideout of the outfit at village Lonepura in the Doda district. Two OGWs of the outfit were also arrested following the raid.

• January 2: SFs arrested an over-ground worker of the LeT, identified as Abdul Hamid Ganai, from Sumbal.