Country Report on Terrorism 2022 - Chapter 5 - Lashkar i Jhangvi

Aka Army of Jhangvi; Lashkar e Jhangvi al-Alami; Lashkar e Jhangvi; Lashkar e Jhangvi al-Almi; Lashkar-i-Jhangvi; LeJ al-Alami.

Description:  Lashkar i Jhangvi (LJ) was designated as an FTO on January 30, 2003.  LJ is the terrorist offshoot of the Sunni Deobandi sectarian group Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan.  LJ carries out anti-Shia and other sectarian attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  The Government of Pakistan banned the group in 2001 as part of an effort to rein in sectarian violence, causing many LJ members to seek refuge in Afghanistan with the Taliban, with whom the group had existing ties.  After the collapse of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, LJ members became active in aiding other terrorists and have since provided them with safe houses, false identities, and protection in Pakistani cities.  LJ works closely with Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan.

Activities:  LJ specializes in armed attacks and bombings and has admitted to killing Shia religious and community leaders in Pakistan, including the 1999 attempt to assassinate then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Since at least 2014, LJ has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks against the Shia community, including a 2014 bus bombing targeting Shia pilgrims, killing 24 people; the 2015 suicide bombing that targeted a market in the predominantly Shia town of Parachinar, Pakistan, killing at least 23 people; and the 2019 bombing of a market in Quetta that killed 20 people and injured 48 others.  The Quetta attack reportedly targeted the local minority Shia Muslim Hazara community.  In 2021, three LJ members were allegedly involved in a bomb attack on the Shia minority community in Punjab that killed at least three persons and wounded 50 others.  LJ did not claim responsibility for any attacks in 2022.

Strength:  LJ’s membership is assessed to be in the low hundreds.

Location/Area of Operation:  Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Funding and External Aid:  LJ’s funding comes from wealthy donors in Pakistan and the Middle East, particularly Persian Gulf states.  The group engages in criminal activity, including extortion, to fund its activities.

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