Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Saifullah Kasuri has issued a chilling warning of a 26/11-style maritime attack on India in 2026, prompting heightened coastal security and fresh geopolitical tensions.
Published: February 24, 2026 3:09 PM IST
Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which carried out the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, has released a video threatening India through its operations commander Saifullah Kasuri. Kasuri was also blamed for planning the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack earlier this year. The video message threatens a sea-borne terror attack similar to 26/11 next year.
In what has sent shockwaves through India, the LeT commander claims that Pakistan will “control the sea” in 2026. India’s intelligence agencies have reportedly sounded high alert on the country’s west coast following LeT’s references to attacks by sea in the video statement.
Sea routes: Did LeT say India will face another 26/11 in 2026?
Published by Pakistani media outlets, Kasuri claims that Pakistan “controlled the sky” in 2025 and would “control the seas” in 2026 “leaving no space for the enemy on land, sea or air.” Kasuri added, “This is what we will do by Allah’s will.”
Analysts tracking inputs from the agencies said the statement was meant to recall the memory of the 26/11 terror attack which saw Pakistani militants enter Mumbai through sea routes on 26 November 2008 and kill 166 people. Indian officials have reportedly beefed up coastal security along the western seaboard after the group’s commander talked about a sea-based attack against India.
Also read: Big BREAKING: Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Taiba planning blast near Delhi’s Red Fort, says sources
Operation Sindoor: Did India Hit LeT Targets in Pakistan?
In addition to talking about potential future attacks against India, Kasuri has also sought to project LeT as a terror group on the backfoot after suffering from India’s Operation Sindoor last month. Carried out in April 2025, Operation Sindoor was launched after militants attacked a civilian convoy in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir last month, killing at least 26 people.
India claimed to have targeted terror groups operating in Pakistan after the attack. Kasuri now claims the strikes near places such as Muridke and Bahawalpur were acts of “aggression” against Pakistan.
Afraid of attacks in Kashmir: Did LeT Commander Say India Targeted Hindus?
Targeting India for “water terrorism”, Kasuri claimed that the acts of terror were carried out by India “not just in Kashmir but Balochistan”. Kasuri also issued a threat to India’s minority Hindus by saying “our terrorists will go to their temples as well.”
Claiming to be from the Pakistan Army, Kasuri praised operations by India and Pakistan together and said, “If we succeed it is because Allah has allowed us to succeed.”
Indian intelligence officers claim that the video was issued by LeT to boost the morale of the terror outfit’s fighters after being targeted by India last month. Terming India’s claims of strikes on LeT targets as aggression against Pakistan, Kasuri also sought to claim moral victory for the terror group and paint India as the aggressor.
Sea-based attacks feared again
India today fears LeT attempting another sea-based attack on its shores like it did back in 2008. Defence and security experts have said similar threats need to be taken seriously in order to avoid Mumbai attack-like strikes from terror groups backed by Pakistan in the future.
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