The U.S. Department of the Treasury designated three senior members and financiers of Lashkar-e Tayyiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based terrorist organization, in a new effort to stem the group's funding.

The three members were Hafiz Abdur Rauf, a member of LeT's senior leadership and head of the group's Falah-i Insaniat Foundation (FiF); Mian Abdullah, the head of LeT's Traders' Department and former chief of the group's training camps; and Mohammad Naushad Alam Khan, a key financial facilitator for LeT through smuggling and international counterfeiting operations.

The move makes clear American intentions to expand its sanctions against groups like FiF, who blur the lines between independent aid groups and terrorist fundraisers. As pressure mounted on LeT following its major terror attack on Mumbai in November 2008, FiF's chief Hafiz Abdur Rauf raised money for the terror group under the FiF alias. In addition, Rauf operated in several senior leadership positions for LeT, including spokesperson, director of humanitarian eelief, and director of public service.

The designation of Mian Abdullah also provides a clear warning to Pakistan's business community to cease its connection with LeT. As leader of LeT's Traders' Department, Abdullah was a key liaison between Pakistani businessmen and the terrorist organization. He also headed the group's training camps in early 2009.

LeT has built a name for itself through its international campaign of terror and massacres, primarily on Indian and non-Muslim targets in the disputed Kashmir province and abroad. An IPT special report about the group can be read here.