LeT Leader Bhuttavi, Who Trained Terrorists Involved in 2008 Mumbai Attacks, Dies in Pak Prison

Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader, who trained terrorists who carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks died in a prison in Pakistan while serving a prison sentence for financing terrorism, the Hindustan Times said in a report.

The UN Security Council designated Bhuttavi as a terrorist in 2012. Years later the Pakistan government arrested and charged him for terror financing along with founder of the terrorist group Hafiz Saeed’s brother-in-law Abdul Rahman Makki, in August 2020. He was sentenced to 16-and-a-half-years in prison, the report by Hindustan Times said.

The news of Bhuttavi’s death was relayed on social media by organisations associated with the terrorist group on Monday. The report revealed that Bhuttavi also served as acting head of the LeT when the group’s founder Hafiz Saeed was being held by Pakistani authorities in 2002 as well as in 2008.

Bhuttavi was lodged in a jail in Sheikhupura in Pakistan’s Punjab province and he died of a heart attack on Monday afternoon. The video of his funeral was shared by social media accounts which represent groups sympathetic to the LeT. The funeral was reportedly held at LeT’s centre near Lahore’s Muridke.

The UNSC said Bhuttavi was also associated with al-Qaeda and participated in LeT’s “financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities”.

The UNSC also says that Bhuttavi was a founding member of the terror group and served as a deputy to Hafiz Saeed.

“Bhuttavi has served as the acting emir of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba/Jamaat-ud-Dawa (LeT/JuD) on at least two occasions when Saeed has been detained. Saeed was detained days after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks and held until June 2009. Bhuttavi handled the group’s day-to-day functions during this period, and made independent decisions on behalf of the organization. Saeed was also detained in May 2002,” a notification from the UNSC said.

In November 2008, a 10-member team from LeT carried out coordinated attacks in Mumbai, resulting in the tragic loss of 166 lives and numerous injuries. Among the victims were individuals from various nations, including the US and the UK. While Pakistan detained seven LeT members, including the operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, there has been no significant advancement in their trial.

The Hindustan Times report said that Indian intelligence officials also confirmed that Bhuttavi died.

The US Treasury in 2011 said Bhuttavi was involved in fundraising, recruitment and indoctrination of LeT operatives for over two decades.