US imposes sanctions on Lashkar-e-Taiba leaders

The United States imposed sanctions on prominent members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group blamed for orchestrating a 2008 attack in Mumbai that killed 166 people, including six Americans. Sajjid Mir, who allegedly helped plan and direct the attack, along with seven other prominent members of the Pakistan-based group were added to the US Treasury’s list of people hit with asset freezes. Mir allegedly worked with David Headley, an American who pled guilty to scouting in Mumbai for the group and admitted he helped plan the attack, the US Treasury said. Lashkar-e-Taiba, an anti-Indian militant group with historical ties to Pakistan’s top spy agencies, was designated by the United States in 2001 as a foreign terrorist organization. The group also has links to the Taliban, the Haqqani Taliban network and al Qaeda, the US government said. Others named by the U.S. Treasury include Abdullah Mujahid, a Lashkar-e-Taiba member since 1988 and most recently in charge of the group’s training activities in Punjab province and Hafiz Khalid Walid, who has run the group’s political bureau since mid-2008, the department said in a statement.