lashkar

A year later Lashkar remains a potent force, capable of striking Indian as well as Western targets.

One of Lashkar's goals was to halt peace talks between Islamabad and New Delhi and possibly to invite Indian retribution.

But Kashmir is not the only obstacle to Lashkar's disarmament.

This refers to a cluster of Taliban-controlled villages close to Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital.

Unlike most of these outfits , which have turned their guns on the state, Lashkar abstains from launching attacks inside the country .

But the consensus is that dealing with Lashkar will come at the tail end of any process to demobilize militant groups in the country.

Despite this, Lashkar managed to maintain a low profile relative to its potent capabilities.

The Indian Mujahideen, an Islamist group thought to be linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based terrorist outfit, claimed responsibility.

Police officials are blaming a motorcycle filled with explosives for the incident in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province.

Lashkar Gah residents also praised the Helmand governor, Gulab Mangal, for his role in stabilising the province.

Haji Salih Mohammad, a Lashkar Gah shopkeeper, agreed that the police were improving.

For the past five weeks, British forces have been clearing the territory between Lashkar Gah and Girishk in Afghanistan's Helmand Province.

The ANA will form a perimeter at the edge of Lashkar Gah with soldiers stationed at checkpoints.

There is little question that Pakistan wishes to maintain the capability for proxy warfare, and Lashkar remains a lynchpin of this strategy.

But this balancing act has become a lot more delicate in recent years as Lashkar has grown bolder -- a fact born out by the Mumbai attacks.

Pakistan has charged seven men in relation to the Mumbai attacks, including Lashkar's operational commander, Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

Police recovered a man's body as well as some literature about the banned Sunni extremist outfit, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

After Pakistan banned Lashkar in 2002, Jamaat came to the forefront as the group's political and charitable wing.

As historically has been the case, Pakistan has tried to control Lashkar instead of dismantling it.

But the group named by India, Lashkar-e-Taiba, has longstanding relationships with Pakistan's security establishment.

India has in custody the lone surviving gunman, who India has tied to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group.

The outlawed militant Sunni group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi contacted local media to claim responsibility.

These were replaced in relatively short order according to conversations with Lashkar militants and other interlocutors in Pakistan.

Lashkar's infrastructure also appears to remains more or less intact.

Nearly 1, 000 families displaced by the fighting have arrived in Helmand's capital, Lashkar Gah, a provincial official says.

One suspected terrorist, for instance, a founder member of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, was charged with 70 murders, almost all of them Shias.

And Punjab is also home to front groups of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the outlawed militant group that was blamed for last November's Mumbai massacre.

Another group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, blamed for the devastating attack on Mumbai in 2008, also has Punjab as its home.

Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani terror group, likes to threaten to blow up India's dams.

The use of irregular outfits like Lashkar is another.

There are almost daily reports of people killed by hired guns or militants such as the Taliban and Sunni extremists Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.