Following the actions of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), the United Nations-proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-backed terrorist organization, has begun shifting its operational network from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Punjab deeper into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). Intelligence reports, along with photographic and video evidence from September 22nd, confirm that LeT is establishing a new terrorist training and staging center, Markaz Jihad-e-Aqsa, in the lower Dir district’s Koomban Maidan area. This location is merely 47 kilometers from the Afghan border.
Construction of this new center commenced in July 2025, two months after Operation Sindoor. The first floor’s framework is now complete, with roofing work underway. The center spans approximately 4,600 square feet and is adjacent to LeT’s newly built Jamia Ahle Sunnat mosque, reflecting LeT’s established strategy of using mosques and religious institutions to mask its terrorist infrastructure.
Nasir Javed, a co-conspirator in the 2006 Hyderabad blasts and a veteran LeT operative, has been assigned command of the new center. Muhammad Yasin, also known as Bilal Bhai, is responsible for imparting jihadi ideology, while Ansuallah Khan oversees weapons training. The center plans to offer two key courses, Daur-e-Khas and Daur-e-Lashkar. This camp will serve as the new base for LeT’s Jan-e-Fida’i (suicide) unit, after the Indian Army dismantled its previous base in Bhimber-Barnala in May 2025.
Furthermore, Hizbul Mujahideen has also established a new camp, HM-313, in Lower Dir, and Jaish-e-Mohammed has expanded in Mansehra. These developments are allegedly occurring under the direction of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI, to protect the terrorist infrastructure from Indian scrutiny. The Pakistani military conducted a military operation against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Lower Dir in June 2025, securing the area for LeT and HM. The operation resulted in the deaths of over 24 TTP terrorists, immediately preceding LeT’s commencement of the new center.
Although Pakistani armed forces and air force have presented this as a counter-terrorism operation, local sources indicate it was a maneuver to prepare the ground for anti-India terrorist groups. In August 2025, Pakistani Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur admitted that Pakistan operates on a policy of “good and bad terrorism.” Indian security sources assert that even though the new LeT camp is located away from the border, the Indian Army has the capability to target these locations if India’s security is threatened.
Markaz Jihad-e-Aqsa, under construction in Lower Dir, is expected to be completed by December 2025. It will serve not only as a new recruitment and training center for LeT but also underscores Pakistan’s long-standing strategy of eliminating its own anti-state terrorists while sheltering anti-India organizations.
