Azam Cheema

Azam Cheema (Urdu: اعظم چیمہ, romanized: ʿĀẓam Cīma, 1953 – 28 February 2024), also known as Baba or Babaji, was a Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba operative who was the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks and the 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings. In November 2010, the United States Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against him just before Barack Obama's visit to India. A citizen of Pakistan, he was described as the intelligence chief of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and was specifically involved in teaching operatives bomb making and infiltrating India. Cheema was born at Faisalabad in 1953. He was sanctioned as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List by the Office of Foreign Assets Control; where his addresses are listed in Islamabad, Muzaffarabad and Bahawalpur. Cheema, aged 70, died from a heart attack in Pakistan on 28 February 2024.