Pakistan’s ISI has directed terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba to embed a 12-member fidayeen squad within Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) for a future strike in Jammu and Kashmir, with intelligence agencies assessing that the hybrid LeT-ISKP module is already active across Budgam, Kishtwar and Srinagar districts, top intelligence sources told The Tribune on Thursday.
The inputs indicate that terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir are currently being overseen by Pakistan’s military-intelligence leadership, including Lieutenant General Ahmad Ehsan Nawaz, Chief of Pakistan Army’s X Corps, and Brigadier Faiq Ayub, the ISI’s PoK Sector Commander.
“The oversight is aimed at sustaining violence in the region while maintaining plausible deniability for Islamabad,” the source said. He further informed that Pakistan’s Army and ISI have also authorised Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba to redraw operational strategies, with explicit instructions that “Pakistan’s direct role must remain concealed”.
According to intelligence assessments, the fidayeen squad embedded within ISKP is being led by Abu Hurraira, a senior LeT commander active in India since 2021. His deputy is Mohammad Umar, alias “Khargosh”, active since 2022.
Reportedly, another key operative, Abu Dujana, in his early twenties, infiltrated into India in 2024 after being recruited and indoctrinated at a young age, reflecting LeT’s continued reliance on youthful cadres for high-risk suicide missions.
Intelligence inputs indicate that Abu Dujana was trained in 2018 alongside Umar Lone of Baramulla, who remained active in Jammu and Kashmir until he was killed in an encounter in Bandipora in June 2024.
As per the source, the hybrid LeT–ISKP module has been split into smaller operational cells to minimise detection, with separate groups led by Hurraira, Umar, and Dujana.
Security agencies have intensified monitoring across central and south Kashmir, viewing the LeT–ISKP hybridisation as a deliberate attempt to camouflage Pakistan-backed terrorism under the Islamic State banner and complicate attribution at the international level.
