Washington: The United States on Wednesday slapped sanctions on two founding leaders of Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba for fund raising, recruitment and indoctrination of operatives.
The US Treasury Department named Zafar Iqbal and Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, top LeT leaders and founding members of the group which is a front for banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa.
"Over the past 20 years, Iqbal and Bhuttavi have been responsible for fund raising, recruitment and indoctrination of operatives.
By targeting the core of LeT's leadership, today's action aims to degrade its ability to facilitate its terrorist activities," Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S Cohen said.
LeT has links with the al-Qaeda network and is blamed for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and July 2006 Mumbai train bombings. It was designated by the US as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in December 2001, and was added to the UN sanctions list in May 2005.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD) was designated as an alias of LeT in April 2006 and was added to the UN sanctions list as an alias of LeT in December 2008.
The Treasury said Iqbal is a senior leader and co-founder of LeT, has served in various LeT/JUD senior leadership positions and was once considered LeT/JUD s second-in-command.
As of late 2010, Iqbal was in-charge of LET/JUD s finance department. Iqbal has also been involved in LET/JUD fund raising activities.
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