LeT commander and 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Azam Cheema dead: report

Key conspirator of Mumbai’s 26/11 attacks Azam Cheema has reportedly died of a heart attack in Pakistan’s Faisalabad. He was 70. Top intelligence sources told India Today that the Lashkar-e-Taiba commander’s funeral was held in Malkhanwala village.

Reports say that Cheema was the mastermind of the 2008 terrorist attacks, which resulted in the death of 166 people and 18 security personnel in Mumbai.

Wanted by the US, Cheema was designated by the US as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation shortly after the 9/11 attacks. Washington considered him a key commander in Lashkar-e-Taiba and was believed to be closely associated with Osama Bin Laden.

“He taught the jihadis to spot vital installations of India on the map. He would also instruct LeT terrorists across India via satellite phone in the mid 2000s,” a source told Times of India.

Cheema also reportedly was involved in the training of the 10 terrorists who landed on the shores of Mumbai in November 2008. “He would occasionally visit Karachi and Lahore training camps as well,” another source told TOI.

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