ISLAMABAD, May 31 (DNA): At least 14 militant organisations, involved in trans-national terrorist incidents during 2012, were having bases or linkages in Pakistan, said the US State Department Country Terrorism report.Designated as Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTOs) by the US Secretary of State, some of the 14 militant organisations were found involved in terrorism incidents in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Iran, Europe and the US, media reports say Friday.
According to the US Country Terrorism report 2012 the prominent trans-national militant organisations having linkages in Pakistan included: Haqqani Network; Harakat-Ul Jihad Islami; Harakat Ul-Jihad-I-Islami/Bangladesh; Harakat Ul-Mujahideen; Indian Mujahedeen; Islamic Jihad Union; Islamic Movement Of Uzbekistan; Jaish-E-Mohammed; Jemaah Islamiya; Jundallah; Lashkar E-Tayyiba; Lashkar I Jhangvi; Al-Qa’ida; and Tehrik-E-Taliban Pakistan.
Startlingly, the report reveals that trans-national militant organisations having linkages in Pakistan had an estimated strength of atleast 20,000 (Twenty Thousand) hard core members, a number equivalent to atleast 11 fighting brigades of regular armies of South Asian countries like Pakistan and India.
Following are the militant organisations identified in the US Country Terrorism Report 2012 having linkages or bases in Pakistan and the details about them as given in the report:
HAQQANI NETWORK: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on September 19, 2012, the Haqqani Network (HQN) has its roots in an offensive formed in the late 1970s, around the time of the former Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. Jalaluddin Haqqani, HQN’s founder, established a relationship with Usama bin Laden in the mid-1980s, and joined the Taliban in 1995. After the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, Jalaluddin retreated to Pakistan where, under the leadership of Jalaluddin’s son, Sirajuddin Haqqani, the group began participating in the insurgency and became known as the Haqqani Network.
ACTIVITIES: HQN has planned and carried out a number of significant attacks against U.S. and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, as well as Afghan government targets and civilians. HQN’s most notorious attacks include a January 2008 attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul, during which the attackers killed eight individuals, including one U.S. citizen; a May 2010 attack on Bagram Airbase using suicide bombers, rockets, and grenades, which killed an American contractor and wounded nine U.S. soldiers; an attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul in June 2011, which killed 11 civilians and two Afghan policemen; a September 2011 truck bombing in Wardak Province, Afghanistan, which wounded 77 U.S. soldiers; and the 19-hour attack on the U.S. Embassy and ISAF headquarters in Kabul in September 2011, which killed 16 Afghans, including at least six children.
In 2012, HQN’s attacks continued. Attacks included a June suicide bomb attack against Forward Operating Base Salerno, which killed two U.S. soldiers and wounded more than 100; and a 12- hour siege of the Spozhmai Hotel in Kabul, which resulted in the death of at least 18 Afghans, including 14 civilians. Despite HQN’s violent attacks, the group suffered a major setback in August with the death of senior leader Badruddin Haqqani.
HQN has also been involved in numerous kidnappings in Afghanistan, including that of New York Times reporter David Rohde in November 2008, who escaped in June 2009. HQN was also behind the June 2009 kidnapping of Bowe Bergdahl, a soldier in the U.S. Army, who remained in captivity throughout 2012.
STRENGTH: HQN is believed to have several hundred core members, but it is estimated that the organization is also able to draw upon a pool of upwards of 10,000 fighters with varying degrees of affiliation. HQN also draws strength through cooperation with other terrorist organizations operating in Afghanistan, including the Afghan Taliban, al-Qa’ida, Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Lashkar-e Jhangvi, and Jaish-e Mohammad.
LOCATION/AREA OF OPERATION: HQN is active along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and across much of southeastern Afghanistan. The group’s leadership maintains a power base in Miram Shah, North Waziristan, Pakistan.
Funding and External Aid: In addition to the support it receives through its connections to other terrorist organizations, HQN receives much of its funds from donors in Pakistan and the Gulf, as well as through criminal activities such as kidnapping, extortion, smuggling, and other licit and illicit business ventures.
HARAKAT-UL JIHAD ISLAMI: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on August 6, 2010, Harakat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI) was founded in 1980 in Afghanistan to fight against the former Soviet Union. Following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989, the organization re-focused its efforts on India. HUJI seeks the annexation of Indian Kashmir and expulsion of Coalition Forces from Afghanistan. It also has supplied fighters for the Taliban in Afghanistan. In addition, some factions of HUJI espouse a more global agenda and conduct attacks in Pakistan. HUJI is composed of militant Pakistanis and veterans of the Soviet-Afghan war. HUJI has experienced a number of internal splits and a portion of the group has aligned with al-Qa’ida (AQ) in recent years, including training its members in AQ training camps. Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, one of HUJI’s top leaders who also served as an AQ military commander and strategist, was killed on June 3, 2011.
ACTIVITIES: HUJI has been involved in a number of terrorist attacks in recent years. On March 2, 2006, a HUJI leader was behind the suicide bombing of the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, which killed four people, including U.S. diplomat David Foy, and injured 48 others. HUJI was also responsible for terrorist attacks in India including the May 2007 Hyderabad mosque attack, which killed 16 and injured 40; and the March 2007 Varanasi attack, which killed 25 and injured 100. HUJI claimed responsibility for the September 7, 2011 bombing of the New Delhi High Court, which left at least 11 dead and an estimated 76 wounded. HUJI sent an email to the press stating that the bomb was intended to force India to repeal a death sentence of a HUJI member. While HUJI continued its recruitment efforts in 2012, the organization also had several members arrested by authorities.
STRENGTH: HUJI has an estimated strength of several hundred members.
LOCATION/AREA OF OPERATION: HUJI’s area of operation extends throughout South Asia, with its terrorist operations focused primarily in India and Afghanistan. Some factions of HUJI conduct attacks within Pakistan.
FUNDING AND EXTERNAL AID: Unknown
HARAKAT UL-MUJAHIDEEN: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on October 8, 1997, Harakat ul- Mujahideen (HUM) seeks the annexation of Indian Kashmir and the expulsion of Coalition Forces in Afghanistan. Reportedly under pressure from the Government of Pakistan, HUM’s long-time leader Fazlur Rehman Khalil stepped down and was replaced by Dr. Badr Munir as the head of HUM in January 2005. HUM operated terrorist training camps in eastern Afghanistan until Coalition air strikes destroyed them in 2001. Khalil was detained by Pakistani authorities in mid-2004 and subsequently released in late December of the same year. In 2003, HUM began using the name Jamiat ul-Ansar (JUA). Pakistan banned JUA in November 2003.
ACTIVITIES: HUM was responsible for the hijacking of an Indian airliner in December 1999 that resulted in the release of Masood Azhar, an important leader in the former Harakat ul-Ansar, who was imprisoned by India in 1994 and then founded Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) after his release. Another former member of Harakat ul-Ansar, Ahmed Omar Sheik was also released by India as a result of the hijackings and was later convicted of the abduction and murder in 2002 of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl. In December 2012, Pakistani police disrupted militants associated with HUM and Lashkar i Jhangvi who were planning an attack on a congregation hall in Karachi, Pakistan.
STRENGTH: HUM has several hundred armed supporters located in Pakistan-administered Kashmir; India’s southern Kashmir and Doda regions; and in the Kashmir valley. Supporters are mostly Pakistanis and Kashmiris, but also include Afghans and Arab veterans of the Afghan war. After 2000, a significant portion of HUM’s membership defected to JEM.
LOCATION/AREA OF OPERATION: Based in Muzaffarabad, Rawalpindi, and several other cities in Pakistan, HUM conducts insurgent and terrorist operations primarily in Kashmir and Afghanistan. HUM trains its militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Funding and External Aid: HUM collects donations from wealthy and grassroots donors in Pakistan. HUM’s financial collection methods include soliciting donations in magazine advertisements and pamphlets.
ISLAMIC JIHAD UNION: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on June 17, 2005, the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) is a Sunni extremist organization that splintered from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in the early 2000s and is currently based in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Though IJU remains committed to overthrowing the Government of Uzbekistan, it also has a global agenda, seen in its attacks on Coalition Forces in Afghanistan and the recruitment of German nationals for the purpose of conducting operations in Europe.
ACTIVITIES: The IJU primarily operates against American and ISAF Forces in Afghanistan and continues to pose a threat to Central Asia. Foreign fighters from Germany, Turkey, and elsewhere in Europe continued to travel to the Afghan-Pakistan border area to join the IJU to fight against U.S. and Coalition Forces.
STRENGTH: 100-200 members.
LOCATION/AREA OF OPERATION: Based in Pakistan, IJU members are also scattered throughout Central Asia, Europe, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
FUNDING AND EXTERNAL AID: Unknown
ISLAMIC MOVEMENT OF UZBEKISTAN: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on September 25, 2000, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan’s (IMU) goal is to overthrow the Uzbek government and establish an Islamic state. The IMU has a relationship with al-Qa’ida, the Taliban, and Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan. IMU’s leadership cadre remains based in Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled North Waziristan and operates primarily along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and in northern Afghanistan. Top IMU leaders have integrated themselves into the Taliban’s shadow government in Afghanistan’s northern provinces. Operating in cooperation with each other, the Taliban and IMU have expanded their presence throughout northern Afghanistan and have established training camps in the region.
ACTIVITIES: An October 2012 IMU video showed an attack and the death of numerous Pakistani security forces in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. In December in Paris, nine Europeans were convicted for sending tens of thousands of euros to the IMU.
STRENGTH: 200-300 members
LOCATION/AREA OF OPERATION: IMU militants are located in South Asia, Central Asia, and Iran.
FUNDING AND EXTERNAL AID: The IMU receives support from a large Uzbek diaspora, terrorist organizations, and donors from Europe, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East.
JAISH-E-MOHAMMED: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on December 26, 2001, Jaish-e- Mohammed (JEM) is based in Pakistan. Pakistan outlawed JEM in 2002. By 2003, JEM had splintered into Khuddam-ul-Islam (KUI), headed by Azhar, and Jamaat ul-Furqan (JUF), led by Abdul Jabbar, who was released from Pakistani custody in August 2004. Pakistan banned KUI and JUF in November 2003.
ACTIVITIES: Since Masood Azhar’s 1999 release from Indian custody, JEM has conducted many fatal terrorist attacks in the region. JEM claimed responsibility for several suicide car bombings in Kashmir, including an October 2001 suicide attack on the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly building in Srinagar that killed more than 30 people. The Indian government has publicly implicated JEM, along with Lashkar e-Tayyiba, for the December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament that killed nine and injured 18. In 2002, Pakistani authorities arrested and convicted a JEM member for the abduction and murder of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl. Pakistani authorities suspect that JEM members may have been involved in the 2002 anti-Christian attacks in Islamabad, Murree, and Taxila that killed two Americans. In December 2003, Pakistan implicated JEM members in the two assassination attempts against President Musharraf. In 2006, JEM claimed responsibility for a number of attacks, including the killing of several Indian police officials in the Indian-administered Kashmir capital of Srinagar.
STRENGTH: JEM has at least several hundred armed supporters – including a large cadre of former Harakat ul-Mujahideen members – located in Pakistan, India’s southern Kashmir and Doda regions, and in the Kashmir Valley. In 2012, JEM continued its fundraising and recruitment activities in Pakistan.
LOCATION/AREA OF OPERATION: Kashmir in India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, particularly southern Punjab.
Funding and External Aid: To avoid asset seizures by the Pakistani government, since 2007 JEM has withdrawn funds from bank accounts and invested in legal businesses, such as commodity trading, real estate, and production of consumer goods. JEM also collects funds through donation requests in magazines and pamphlets, sometimes using charitable causes to solicit donations.
LASHKAR E-TAYYIBA: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) on December 26, 2001, Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT) is one of the largest and most proficient of the traditionally anti-India- focused militant groups. The Pakistani government banned LeT in January 2002, and JUD in 2008, following the Mumbai attack.
ACTIVITIES: LeT has conducted a number of operations against Indian troops and civilian targets in Jammu and Kashmir since 1993; several high profile attacks inside India; and operations against Coalition Forces in Afghanistan. The group uses assault rifles, machine guns, mortars, explosives, and rocket-propelled grenades.
Indian governmental officials hold LeT responsible for the July 2006 train attack in Mumbai and for multiple attacks in 2005 and 2006. LeT conducted the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai against luxury hotels, a Jewish center, a train station, and a popular café that killed approximately 170 people, including six American citizens, and injured more than 300.
In June 2012, Indian authorities arrested LeT member Sayeed Zabiuddin Ansari, alias Abu Jindal, one of the instigators of the November 2008 Mumbai attack.
STRENGTH: The size of LeT is unknown, but it has several thousand members in Azad Kashmir and Punjab in India; Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab Provinces in Pakistan; and in the southern Jammu, Kashmir, and Doda regions. Most LeT members are Pakistanis or Afghans and/or veterans of the Afghan wars.
LOCATION/AREA OF OPERATION: LeT has global connections and a strong operational network throughout South Asia. LeT maintains a number of facilities, including training camps, schools, and medical clinics in Pakistan.
FUNDING AND EXTERNAL AID: LeT collects donations in Pakistan and the Gulf as well as from other donors in the Middle East and Europe, particularly the UK.
LASHKAR I JHANGVI: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on January 30, 2003, Lashkar I Jhangvi (LJ) is the militant offshoot of the Sunni Deobandi sectarian group Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan. LJ focuses primarily on anti-Shia attacks and other attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and was banned by Pakistan in August 2001, as part of an effort to rein in sectarian violence. LJ works closely with Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan.
ACTIVITIES: LJ specializes in armed attacks and bombings and has admitted responsibility for numerous killings of Shia religious and community leaders in Pakistan. In January 1999, the group attempted to assassinate former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shabaz Sharif, Chief Minister of Punjab Province. Media reports linked LJ to attacks on Christian targets in Pakistan, including a March 2002 grenade assault on the Protestant International Church in Islamabad that killed two U.S. citizens.
LJ was active in 2011 and 2012. The most notable 2011 attack occurred in December, when an LJ suicide bomber detonated an improvised explosive device in a crowd of Shia mourners in Kabul, killing 48 civilians – including 12 children – and wounding 193. LJ attacks in 2012 ranged from suicide bombings to targeted shootings of ethnic Hazaras. In April, LJ members committed a series of shootings that killed 27 ethnic Hazaras over a two-week period. In June, a suicide bombing on a bus of pilgrims travelling from Iran to Pakistan left 14 dead, and 30 wounded. In September, LJ claimed responsibility for killing seven Shia in Hazarganji, and LJ members were arrested by Pakistani authorities when two explosions in Karachi killed seven, including two children, and wounded another 22.
STRENGTH: Assessed in the low hundreds.
LOCATION/AREA OF OPERATION: LJ is active primarily in Punjab, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Karachi, and Baluchistan.
FUNDING AND EXTERNAL AID: Funding comes from wealthy donors in Pakistan, as well as the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia. The group engages in criminal activity to fund its activities, including extortion and protection money.
AL-QA’IDA: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on October 8, 1999, al-Qa’ida (AQ) was established by Usama bin Laden in 1988. Many AQ leaders have been killed in recent years, including bin Laden and then second-in-command Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, in May and August 2011, respectively. Al-Rahman’s replacement, Abu Yahya al-Libi, was killed in June 2012. Leader Ayman al-Zawahiri remained at large.
ACTIVITIES: AQ and its supporters conducted three bombings that targeted U.S. troops in Aden in December 1992, and claim to have shot down U.S. helicopters and killed U.S. servicemen in Somalia in 1993. On September 11, 2001, 19 AQ members hijacked and crashed four U.S. commercial jets – two into the World Trade Center in New York City, one into the Pentagon near Washington, DC; and the last into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania – leaving over 3,000 individuals dead or missing. In a December 2011 video, new AQ leader al-Zawahiri claimed AQ was behind the August kidnapping of American aid worker Warren Weinstein in Pakistan. As conditions for his release, al-Zawahiri demanded the end of U.S. air strikes and the release of all terrorist suspects in U.S. custody. Weinstein remained in AQ custody throughout 2012.
STRENGTH: In South Asia, AQ’s core has been seriously degraded. The death or arrest of dozens of mid- and senior-level AQ operatives – including bin Laden in May 2011 – have disrupted communication, financial, facilitation nodes, and a number of terrorist plots. AQ serves as a focal point of “inspiration” for a worldwide network of affiliated groups – al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), al-Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI), al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al- Shabaab – and other Sunni Islamic extremist groups, including the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Islamic Jihad Union, Lashkar i Jhangvi, Harakat ul-Mujahadin, and Jemaah Islamiya. Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan and the Haqqani Network also have ties to AQ.
LOCATION/AREA OF OPERATION: AQ was based in Afghanistan until Coalition Forces removed the Taliban from power in late 2001. Since then, they have resided in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas. AQ’s regional affiliates – AQI, AQAP, AQIM, and al-Shabaab – work in Iraq and Syria, Yemen, the Trans-Sahara, and Somalia, respectively.
FUNDING AND EXTERNAL AID: AQ primarily depends on donations from like-minded supporters as well as from individuals who believe that their money is supporting a humanitarian cause. Some funds are diverted from Islamic charitable organizations.
TEHRIK-E TALIBAN PAKISTAN: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on September 1, 2010, Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is a Pakistan-based terrorist organization formed in 2007 in opposition to Pakistani military efforts in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. TTP’s goals include waging a terrorist campaign against the Pakistani military, as well as against NATO forces in Afghanistan, and overthrowing the Government of Pakistan. TTP draws ideological guidance from AQ, while AQ relies on TTP for safe haven in the Pashtun areas along the Afghan-Pakistani border. This arrangement gives TTP access to both AQ’s global terrorist network and the operational experience of its members.
ACTIVITIES: TTP has carried out and claimed responsibility for numerous terrorist acts against Pakistani and U.S. interests, including a December 2009 suicide attack on a U.S. military base in Khowst, Afghanistan, which killed seven U.S. citizens.
STRENGTH: Several thousand.
LOCATION/AREA OF OPERATION: Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan
FUNDING AND EXTERNAL AID: TTP is believed to raise most of its funds through kidnapping for ransom and operations that target Afghanistan-bound military transport trucks for robbery. Such operations allow TTP to steal military equipment, which it sells in Afghan and Pakistani markets.
JEMAAH ISLAMIYA: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on October 23, 2002, Jemaah Islamiya (JI) is a Southeast Asia-based terrorist group co-founded by Abu Bakar Ba’asyir and Abdullah Sungkar that seeks the establishment of an Islamic caliphate spanning Indonesia, Malaysia, southern Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, and the southern Philippines. More than 400 JI operatives have been captured since 2002, including operations chief and al-Qa’ida associate Hambali. In January 2011, JI member Umar Patek was captured in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and put on trial in Indonesia, where he was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2012 for his role in the Bali bombing.
ACTIVITIES: In December 2001, Singaporean authorities uncovered a JI plot to attack U.S., Israeli, British, and Australian diplomatic facilities in Singapore. Other significant JI attacks include the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed more than 200, including seven U.S. citizens; the August 2003 bombing of the J. W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta; the September 2004 bombing outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta; and JI’s October 2005 suicide bombing in Bali, which killed 26, including the three suicide bombers.
STRENGTH: Estimates of total JI members vary from 500 to several thousand.
LOCATION/AREA OF OPERATION: JI is based in Indonesia and is believed to have elements in Malaysia and the Philippines.
FUNDING AND EXTERNAL AID: Investigations have indicated that JI is fully capable of its own fundraising through membership donations and criminal and business activities. It has received financial, ideological, and logistical support from Middle Eastern contacts and NGOs.
JUNDALLAH: Jundallah was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on November 4, 2010. Jundallah’s stated goals are to secure recognition of Balochi cultural, economic, and political rights from the Government of Iran, and to spread awareness of the plight of the Baloch situation through violent and nonviolent means.
ACTIVITIES: An October 2009 suicide bomb attack in a marketplace in the city of Pishin in the Sistan va Balochistan province, which killed more than 40 people, was reportedly the deadliest terrorist attack in Iran since the 1980s. In a statement on its website, Jundallah claimed responsibility for the December 15, 2010 suicide bomb attack inside the Iman Hussein Mosque in Chabahar, which killed an estimated 35 to 40 civilians and wounded 60 to 100. In July 2010, Jundallah attacked the Grand Mosque in Zahedan, killing approximately 30 and injuring an estimated 300.
STRENGTH: Reports of Jundallah membership vary from 500 to 2,000.
LOCATION/AREA OF OPERATION: Throughout Sistan va Balochistan province in southeastern Iran and the greater Balochistan area of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
FUNDING AND EXTERNAL AID: Unknown
HARAKAT UL-JIHAD-I-ISLAMI/BANGLADESH: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on March 5, 2008, Harakat ul- Jihad-i-Islami/Bangladesh (HUJI-B) was formed in April 1992 by a group of former Bangladeshi Afghan veterans to establish Islamic rule in Bangladesh. In October 2005, Bangladeshi authorities banned the group. HUJI-B has connections to Pakistani terrorist groups such as Lashkar e-Tayyiba, which advocate similar objectives. The leaders of HUJI-B signed the February 1998 fatwa sponsored by Usama bin Laden that declared American civilians legitimate targets.
STRENGTH: HUJI-B leaders claim that up to 400 of its members are Afghan war veterans, but its total membership is unknown.
FUNDING AND EXTERNAL AID: HUJI-B funding comes from a variety of sources. Several international Muslim NGOs may have funneled money to HUJI-B and other Bangladeshi militant groups.
INDIAN MUJAHEDEEN: The Indian Mujahedeen (IM) was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on September 19, 2011. An India-based terrorist group with significant links to Pakistani-based terrorist organizations, IM has been responsible for dozens of bomb attacks throughout India since 2005, and has caused the deaths of hundreds of civilians. IM maintains close ties to other U.S.-designated terrorist entities including Pakistan-based Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e- Mohammed, and Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami (HUJI). IM’s stated goal is to carry out terrorist actions against non-Muslims in furtherance of its ultimate objective, an Islamic Caliphate across South Asia.
ACTIVITIES: IM’s primary method of attack is multiple coordinated bombings in crowded areas against economic and civilian targets to maximize terror and casualties. In 2008, an IM attack in Delhi killed 30 people; that same year, IM was responsible for 16 synchronized bomb blasts in crowded urban centers and a local hospital in Ahmedabad that killed 38 and injured more than 100. IM also played a facilitative role in the 2008 Mumbai attack carried out by LeT that killed approximately 170 people, including six Americans.
STRENGTH: Estimated to have several thousand supporters and members.
LOCATION/AREA OF OPERATION: India
FUNDING AND EXTERNAL AID: Suspected to obtain funding and support from other terrorist organizations, such as LeT and HUJI, and from sources in Pakistan and the Middle East.
