Terrorist Group Profile - Research Paper Example

Lashkar-e-Tayyiba was formed in the 1990s, being the military wing of Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad, a Pakistan-based Islamic fundamentalist missionary organization which had been founded in the 1980s to oppose the Soviets in Afghanistan and which fought against the Taliban against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (American Foreign Policy Council, 2011). The Pakistan government banned it in 2002 after it was designated as an international terrorist organization. Beginning from the year 1993, Lashkar- e – Tayyiba has conducted many attacks many attacks against Indian security forces and civilian dwellings and targets in the areas of Kashmir and Jammu, which have been internationally designated as a disputed area between India and Pakistan.

The terrorist organization has continued to operate, despite being banned and its assets frozen by the Pakistan Government in the year 2002 and sanctions imposed upon its four senior leaders in the year 2008 (South Asia Terrorism Portal, 2001). In the recent past, the movement has become more international in its agenda, advocating terrorism and propaganda against the United States, Israel and other of what it terms as its enemies, according to the United States department. In 2008, for example, there were coordinated terror attacks against locations known to be frequented by western tourists in Mumbai India, whereby 170people were killed, and 300 were injured (American Foreign Policy Council, 2011).

Even though Lashkar- e – Tayyiba did not admit its responsibility for the attacks, one of the terrorists captured admitted to being a member of the terrorist organization and having being trained for the attack in Pakistan camps. An American citizen known to have links with the terrorist organization, David Coleman Headley, also admitted having done surveillance of targeted locations in Mumbai and sent the surveillance pictures and videos to the terrorist group. India’s National Investigation agency