Pakistani extremist group operates freely

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. anti-terrorism officials said an Islamic extremist group with growing worldwide influence is functioning freely in Pakistan.

The group, whose legal status as a charity makes it difficult to go after it, was once called Lashkar-e-Taiba, or Army of the Righteous, and was formed in the 1980s with Pakistani government support to launch attacks against India over Kashmir, the Los Angeles Times reported.

But after the United States termed it a terrorist group in 2001, LeT disbanded and its founders formed Jamaat ud-Dawa, which now operates officially as a humanitarian organization, the Times reported.

U.S. and other counter-terrorism officials said JuD is a renamed version of LeT and is believed to have close ties with al-Qaida. The U.S. Treasury Department designated Jamaat ud-Dawa a terrorist group in April 2006, saying, "LeT renamed itself JuD in order to evade sanctions," the report said.

The report quoted officials as saying the camps LeT once used to train Pakistanis to fight in Kashmir have now become training grounds for other militant groups and extremists from around the world.

Pakistan says JuD is legal and "under watch" and insists it is separate from LeT, which has been shut down.

A U.S. concern is the Pakistani government will be able to do even less to control the group as President Pervez Musharraf's problems mount, the Times said.