Why India Targeted Muridke Markaz, Lashkar Bastion Where 26/11 Terrorist Ajmal Kasab Was Trained

Last Updated:May 07, 2025, 10:24 IST

Established in 2000, Muridke Markaz is known to train terrorists and also serves as a mushrooming ground for radicalisation of students to motivate them to join terror outfits

The Markaz, which is 25-30 km from the Attari-Wagah Border, enrols around 1,000 students in different courses annually and is known for churning out terror entities for LeT annually. (AFP)

Indian armed forces, in a pre-dawn operation on Wednesday, struck nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people—mostly tourists—were killed in cold blood by cross-border terrorists.

India, with Operation Sindoor, precisely targeted infrastructure in Pakistan being used by terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed for training terrorists and as hideouts. Indian armed forces successfully struck nine terror targets—four in Pakistan, including Bahawalpur, Muridke, and Sialkot, and five in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir in a coordinated operation being personally monitored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In an official statement, the Ministry of Defence said: “Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in the selection of targets and method of execution."

One of the most high-profile targets was a key mosque complex in Muridke, a town near Lahore in Pakistan’s Punjab province, which is widely regarded as the nerve centre of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

WHY MURIDKE?

Established in 2000, Muridke Markaz is known to train terrorists and also serves as a mushrooming ground for radicalisation of students to motivate them to join terror outfits. The site houses the group’s preaching centre, educational institutions, a madrasa, residential quarters, and facilities for religious indoctrination, arms training, and recruitment. The Markaz, which is 25-30 km from the Attari-Wagah Border, enrols around 1,000 students in different courses annually and is known for churning out terror entities for LeT annually, intel sources added. Osama Bin Laden had financed Rs 10 million for construction of a mosque and guesthouse within the Markaz Taiba complex.

Also, the preparators of the 26/11 Mumbai attack—including Ajmal Kasab—were imparted ‘Daura-e-Ribbaf (intelligence training) at this facility. David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the prime conspirators of 26/11 Mumbai attacks, had visited Muridke on instructions of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.

Given its location—situated on a major highway and just a few kilometres from Lahore—the Markaz can deploy its assets quickly at a short notice, making it crucial to eliminate the hotbed.

Originally set up to support the Afghan jihad against the Soviets in the 1980s, the Markaz became a base for anti-India operations after the Soviets retreated. Owing to international pressure, when LeT was banned by Pakistan after the 9/11 attacks, Markaz was re-designated as a seminary—the Jamaat-ud-Dawa— India Today reports.

The LeT was established by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Zafar Iqbal, and Abdullah Azzam in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Its parent organization, Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad (MDI), was founded in 1987 as a Sunni missionary group with the goal of promoting Salafism, the strictest interpretation of Islam.

Islamabad, Pakistan

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