Who are Pakistan based LeT and JeM groups targeted by Indian strikes

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD - India said on May 7 it hit nine sites in Pakistan from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed, following last months deadly attack in Kashmir.

The nuclear-armed neighbours have fought two wars since independence from colonial ruler Britain in 1947 over the mainly Muslim region that both rule in part, while claiming in full.

New Delhi blamed last month’s attack in a scenic Himalayan meadow on a group linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist militant outfit based in Pakistan.

Pakistan, which denies any involvement in the Kashmir attack, said the Indian strikes killed 26 civilians and its forces downed five Indian fighter jets.

It vowed to respond “to this aggression at a time, place, and means of our own choice”.

India said seven of its targets were used by Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, both Islamist groups designated “terrorist” organisations by the UN Security Council.

For decades, Hindu-majority India has accused Pakistan of supporting Islamist militants in attacks on Indian interests, especially in Kashmir.

Pakistan denies such support and in turn accuses India of supporting separatist rebels in Pakistan, which New Delhi denies.

Lashkar-e-Taiba

Lashkar-e-Taiba, or the “army of the pure”, is based in Pakistan’s most populous province of Punjab and has long focused on fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.

The UN Security Council says it has conducted “numerous terrorist operations” against military and civilian targets since 1993, including November 2008 attacks in India’s commercial capital of Mumbai that killed 166.

Hafiz Saeed, who founded LeT around 1990, has denied any role in the attack.

The United Nations says LeT has also been implicated in attacks on Mumbai commuter trains in July 2006 and a December 2001 attack on India’s Parliament.

Muridke, just outside Punjabs capital of Lahore, is believed to be home to the sprawling