Azam Cheema (1953 – 28 February 2024) was a Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba operative who masterminded 2008 Mumbai attacks and 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings. In 2010, the United States Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against him just prior to Barack Obama's visit to India.[1] [2] 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.[3]
Cheema was born in Faisalabad, Pakistan in 1953. He was sanctioned as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List by the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control; where his addresses are listed in Islamabad, Muzaffarabad and Bahawalpur.[4] Cheema died from a heart attack in Pakistan, on 28 February 2024, at the age of 70.[5]