LeT Builds New Base In KPK To Dodge Indian Intel: Report

New Delhi:After the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen shifting their bases following Operation Sindoor, intelligence reports are now flagging a similar pattern about the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba constructing a new training centre in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) to evade Indian surveillance and possible strikes.

The intelligence reports, backed by information along with photos and videos dated September 22, confirmed that Lashkar is constructing a new terror training and residential centre, Markaz Jihad-e-Aqsa, in the Kumban Maidan area of Lower Dir district, about 47 km from the Afghan border.

The construction began in July 2025, two months after Operation Sindoor, and the imagery indicates that the first-floor frame is in place, with work still underway to lay an RCC roof as of September 22. The facility occupies approximately 4,643 square feet of vacant land adjacent to the LeT’s recently-built Jamia Ahle Sunnah mosque, reflecting LeT’s historical practice of operating training infrastructure under the cover of religious institutions to evade scrutiny.

Operationally, Lashkar’s new training centre is expected to be completed by December 2025 and the facility poses a medium-to-high long-term threat.

While still under construction, it is already emerging as a fresh hub for recruitment, radicalisation and large-unit terrorist training. Notably, construction of the adjacent Markaz Jamia Ahle Sunnah is only about 80 per cent complete, yet instead of finishing that project, LeT has diverted all its energy, resources and funds toward building the Jihad-e-Aqsa training centre.

This shift underscores the urgency and priority that Lashkar places on establishing the new facility, said intelligence reports.

“Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) has also shifted its large operational and training infrastructure deeper into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), moving away from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Punjab, likely to avoid future Indian airstrikes,” the intelligence inputs suggested.

The command of the new centre has been entrusted to Nasr Javed, co-mastermind of the 2006 Hyderabad blast in India, who previously ran LeT’s Dulai training camp in PoK from 2004 to 2015 and is currently operational with the LeT’s fund-raising arm Khidmat-e-Khalq (formerly Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation, banned by the UN), intelligence reports said.

Muhammad Yasin (alias Bilal Bhai) has been tasked with doctrinal instruction in jihad, while overall operational weapons training responsibilities have been assigned to Anasullah Khan, who received training at LeT’s Garhi Habibullah camp in 2016, the reports said.

The camp’s placement near LeT’s newly constructed and existing religious seminary Markaz Jamia Ahle Sunnah appears deliberate, providing cover for recruitment, logistical support and the concealment of terrorist movement under the guise of religious activity, the reports said.

Visuals point to a steady flow of material and labour, consistent with a deliberate plan to reconstitute LeT’s training capacity away from the Jammu and Kashmir border.

Once operational, Markaz Jihad-e-Aqsa is expected to run two primary training programmes, Daura-e-Khas and Daura-e-Lashkar, and serve as the replacement hub for Lashkar’s Jaan-e-Fidai fidayeen unit following the destruction of the Markaz Ahle Hadith facility at Bhimber-Barnala by the Indian Army on May 7, which previously specialised in fidayeen preparations.

Due to the hits by the Indian Army during Operation Sindoor, the Lashkar camp has now been shifted to Lower Dir to avoid targeting by the Indian forces in future. Sources in the Indian Army have, however, claimed that capability exists in the Army to hit even such distant locations if there is a requirement to do so based on any future involvement of such facilities in harming national interests and the security of India and its citizens.

The recent imagery and visuals, as reported earlier, indicate the concurrent establishment of HM camp HM-313 in Bandaai Maidan of Lower Dir and JeM’s extension of Markaz-e-Shaudha in Mansehra, highlighting a broader trend of terror infrastructure development in the region. The relocation and expansion of LeT, JeM and HM facilities in KPK suggest either coordinated or parallel initiatives, likely under the guidance of the Pakistan ISI’s special operations directorate, in order to evade Indian intelligence monitoring, the reports said.

In addition to Markaz Jihad-e-Aqsa, the sources said, LeT is planning to expand its existing camps at Markaz-e-Khyber Garhi Habibullah and Batrasi, aiming to restore its recruitment, training and residential operations after the destruction of its previous facilities in PoK and Punjab, including Gulpur Kotli, Shwai Nala, Bhimber-Barnala and the Muridke headquarters.

Lower Dir has historically been a hotspot for anti-India terror activity, hosting groups such as Al-Badr, but LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen have no presence here with respect to militancy prior to Operation Sindoor. Apart from Al-Badr historically, Lower Dir has served as a very strong operational base for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

However, due to sectarian differences -- TTP being Deobandi and anti-Pakistan, while LeT follows the Ahle Hadith ideology and is pro-Pakistan -- there have been targeted killings of LeT commanders in Lower Dir by TTP operatives. In 2011, after LeT established a temporary training centre in Lower Dir, a suicide bomb attack by the TTP at the funeral of a Lashkar commander led to the deaths of 20 people. It is therefore felt by the Indian intelligence agencies that, in order to secure LeT’s operations and ensure uninterrupted training, the Pakistani Army had launched a cleanup drive in June 2025 to neutralise TTP operatives in Lower Dir and clear the area for LeT activities that not only resulted in the death of more than two dozen TTP men but also enabled the LeT to begin constructing its new terror centre within a month.

While LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen are known to coordinate and share training facilities in PoK, in Lower Dir the distance between the new under-construction camps of LeT and HM is just 4 km, suggesting potential operational coordination or strategic co-location, the intelligence reports added.