After Jaish & Hizbul, terror group Lashkar moves camps to KPK

A new Intel assessment has pointed, that UN-designated terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has moved its operational and training infrastructure to Pakistan's north west province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK), fearing Indian strikes. The development comes even as other terror organisations like Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) are already moving camps to the restive Pakistani province. According to an intel dossier, Lashkar is constructing a new Terror training and residential centre, Markaz Jihad-e-Aqsa, in the Kumban Maidan area of Lower Dir district.

The construction started in July of this year, and according to imagery gathered, the first floor has been built, with work underway to lay more elements of the structure. The new centre will be under the command of Nasr Javed, the co-mastermind of the 2006 Hyderabad blasts. He previously ran the LeT's Dulai terror camp in PoK from 2004-2015, and is currently part of LeT's fundraising arm Khidmat-e-Khalq, formerly Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation, banned by the UN.

Yasin alias Bilal Bhai and Anas Ullah Khan, who received training at LeT's Garhi Habibullah Camp in 2016, are also part of the new structure. Operationally, the LeT’s new training centre, expected to be completed by December 2025, poses a medium-to-high long-term threat.

The move away of training capacities from LoC follows the destruction of the Markaz Ahle Hadith facility at Bhimber-Barnala by the Indian Army under Operation Sindoor on May 7. The facility was previously specialised in Fidayeen preparation.

The intel assessment says the camp is being shifted to lower Dir to "avoid targeting by Indian Forces in future," but "capability exists in the Indian Army to hit such distant locations if there is a requirement to do so based on any future involvement of such facilities in harming the national interests and security of our country and citizens."

In addition to Markaz Jihad-e-Aqsa, the assessment is that LeT is planning to expand existing camps at Markaz e Khyber Garhi Habibullah and Batrasi, aiming to restore its recruitment, training, and residential operations after the destruction of its facilities in PoK and Punjab, including Gulpur Kotli, Shwai Nala, Bhimber-Barnala, and the Muridke headquarters under operation Sindoor.

While LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) are known to coordinate and share training facilities in PoK, in Lower Dir, the distance between the new under-construction camps of LeT and HM is just 4 kilometres, suggesting potential operational coordination or strategic co-location.