The terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba coordinates a series of bombings in Varanasi, India.
In March 2006, the Indian city of Varanasi witnessed a series of bombings in which at least 28 people were reportedly killed and 101 injured. Varanasi is considered holy by Hindus and is one of the oldest living city in the world. In June 2022, after 16 years of hearing, Ghaziabad district and sessions court convicted the mastermind and terrorist Waliullah Khan and sentenced him to death.
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT; Urdu: لشکر طیبہ [ˈləʃkər eː ˈt̪ɛːjba]; literally Army of the Good, translated as Army of the Righteous, or Army of the Pure and alternatively spelled as Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar-i-Tayyeba) is a militant Islamist organisation operating against India in Pakistan. It was founded by Hafiz Saeed, Abdullah Azzam and several other Islamist mujahideen with funding from Osama bin Laden during the Soviet-Afghan War.The organisation is allegedly part of Operation Tupac and trained and funded by the Pakistan Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence.The organization is designated as a terrorist organisation by Pakistan, India, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Russia, Australia, and the United Nations (under the UNSC Resolution 1267 Al-Qaeda Sanctions List). The organization's stated objective is to merge the whole Kashmir with Pakistan. Though formally banned by Pakistan, the general view of India and some Western analysts is that Pakistan's main intelligence agency continues to give LeT help and protection. The Indian government's view is that Pakistan, particularly through its intelligence agency, has both supported the group and sheltered the group's leader Hafiz Saeed; It has been accused by India of attacking military and civilian targets in India, most notably the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attacks and the 2019 Pulwama attack on Armed Forces.