LeT holds prayers for bin Laden in Pakistan

Lashkar-e-Taiba has been holding special prayers for bin Laden in several cities and towns since he was killed.

ISLAMABAD: The founder one of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) told his followers to be heartened by the death of Osama bin Laden, as his "martyrdom" would not be in vain, a spokesman for the group said on Tuesday.

LeT has been holding special prayers for bin Laden in several cities and towns since he was killed in an operation by U.S. forces in Abbottabad on Monday.

A spokesman for LeT founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed said he had told followers in Lahore that the "great person" of Osama bin Laden would continue to be a source of strength and encouragement for Muslims around the world.

"Osama bin Laden was a great person who awakened the Muslim world," Saeed's spokesman Yahya Mujahid quoted him as saying during prayers at the headquarters of the LeT's charity in Lahore on Monday.

"Martyrdoms are not losses, but are a matter of pride for Muslims", Saeed said. "Osama bin Laden has rendered great sacrifices for Islam and Muslims, and these will always be remembered."

Amidst shouts of "Down with America" and "Down with Obama", around 1,000 of Saeed's followers held prayers in Karachi.

"May Allah accept the sacrifice of Osama bin Laden," local leader of Let's charity, Naveed Qamar, said at the prayers.

LeT, one of the largest and best-funded militant organisations in South Asia, is blamed for the November 2008 assault on Mumbai, which killed 166 people in India's commercial hub. Its founder, Saeed, now heads a charity, a group the United Nations says is a front for the militant group.

Western security analysts believe that LeT is linked to al Qaeda, though LeT officials deny this.

Mujahid said thousands of Saeed's followers, many of them often in tears, took part in the prayers.

Saeed founded LeT in the 1990s but abandoned its leadership after India blamed it and another militant group for an attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001.

Admiral Robert Willard, the head of the United States military's Pacific Command, last month expressed concern over the expanding reach of LeT, saying it was no longer solely focused on India, or even in South Asia.