Azam Cheema (1953 – 28 February 2024) was a Pakistani

Lashkar-e-Taiba Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is a Pakistani Islamism, Islamist militant organization driven by a Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist ideology. The organisation's primary stated objective is to merge the whole of Kashmir with Pakistan. It was founded in 19 ...

operative who masterminded

2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks, also referred to as 26/11 attacks, were a series of coordinated Islamic terrorism, Islamist terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist o ...

and

11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings The 2006 Mumbai train bombings were a series of seven bomb blasts on 11 July. They took place over a period of 11 minutes on the Mumbai Suburban Railway, Suburban Railway in Mumbai, the capital of the States and territories of India, Indian st ...

. In 2010, the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

announced sanctions against him just prior to

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's visit to India. A citizen of Pakistan he was described as intelligence chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba and has been specifically involved in teaching operatives bomb making skills and skills necessary to infiltrate India. Cheema was born in

Faisalabad Faisalabad, formerly known as Lyallpur, is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, second-largest city and primary List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, industrial center of the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan ...

, Pakistan in 1953. He was sanctioned as a

Specially Designated Global Terrorist A Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) is a person or entity that has been designated as such by the United States Department of State or the U.S. Department of the Treasury. An SDGT designation is made under authority of U.S. Executive ...

under the

Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List The Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, also known as the SDN List, is a United States government sanctions/embargo measure targeting U.S.-designated terrorists, officials and beneficiaries of certain authoritarian regimes, a ...

by the United States Department of the Treasury's

Office of Foreign Assets Control The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, United States Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade economic sanctions, ...

; where his addresses are listed in Islamabad,

Muzaffarabad Muzaffarabad (; , IPA: ʊzəfːərɑːbɑːd is a city in Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute ...

and

Bahawalpur Bahawalpur (Urdu: ; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 13th largest city of Pakistan and List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, 8th most populous city of Punjab. Bahawalpur is the capital of Bahawalpur Division. Founded in ...

. Cheema reportedly died from a heart attack in Pakistan, on 28 February 2024, at the age of 70.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheema, Azam 1953 births 2024 deaths Lashkar-e-Taiba members People from Faisalabad People from Bahawalpur District Participants in the 2008 Mumbai attacks Fugitives wanted by India Fugitives wanted on terrorism charges People charged with terrorism Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List Individuals designated as terrorists by the United States government Pakistani Islamists