Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

376 • LASHKAR-E TAYYABAAugust 2001 for its role in inciting sectarian violence between Sunniand Shi’ite Muslims.Following the conviction of Mir Aimal Kansi, the lone gunmanresponsible for the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters attackin 1993, gunmen in Karachi, Pakistan, opened fire, killing fourAmerican workers from a Texas oil and gas company, along with theirdriver, in apparent retaliation for the court ruling. Credit for this actionwas claimed by the LJ. On 20 February 1997 the LJ attacked and killedan Iranian diplomat and six others at the Iranian Cultural Center inMultan. On 11 January 1998 the LJ attacked a Shi’ite religious service,killing 23 and injuring 25. In 2001 a single attack on 5 August injuredsix people. In 2002 there were at least five LJ attacks, four in Kashmirthat killed seven and injured 11, and the 17 March 2002 attack on theInternational Protestant Church in Islamabad, which killed five andinjured 40. During 2004 the LJ made at least three attacks on Shi’itegatherings and processions: on 3 March an LJ machine-gun attack ona Shi’ite procession killed 47 and injured 130; on 31 May the bombingof a Shi’ite mosque killed 21 and injured 50; and a 27 Decemberattack on the Agha Khan Trust killed two. On 2 December 2005 theLJ assassinated a Shi’ite cleric and on 24 February 2007 attacked andkilled three police officers using a suicide bomber.LASHKAR-E TAYYABA (LT). Alternative spelling, Lashkar-eToiba, meaning The Army (or Division) of the Pure, also known asthe Jama’at ad Dawa (JD), “Preaching Group,” is an Islamic fundamentalistgroup founded in Afghanistan in 1990 as the militarywing of the Salafist Pakistani group Markaz ad Dawa wal Irshad,or Center for Preaching and Guidance, with a Pan-Islamic agendaof annexing Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan and creating a unionof Pakistan with nearby Sunni Muslim nations. The name is alsorendered as Lashkar-i-Taiba. The LT considers India, Israel, and theUnited States to be enemies and seeks ultimately to destroy Hinduismand to make India part of a more expansive Islamic state in southernAsia incorporating also former Muslim states now part of Russia andChina. It once enjoyed the support of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence(ISI) and is closely aligned with al Qa’eda and the Taliban.It has approximately 300 members and in the period 1990–2007was responsible for 31 attacks causing at least 499 deaths and 1,255injuries. During 2006 the LT moved from small attacks on groups of