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Lashkar-e-Omar (The Army of Omar) [1] was an Islamic fundamentalist militant organisation. The group, which was formed in January 2002, was a mixture of elements from three other groups: Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and Jaish-e-Mohammed.[ citation needed ] It also included members of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Its reported mission was to attack Americans in Pakistan.[ citation needed ] The last leader was Qari Abdul Hai, also known as Qari Asadullah alias Talha.[ citation needed ]
Several events have been linked to the group. It was reportedly behind a grenade attack on a church in Islamabad on 17 March 2002, which resulted in five deaths and 41 injuries.[ citation needed ] A couple of months later on 8 May a suicide bomber detonated outside a Sheraton hotel in Karachi.[ citation needed ] Again in Karachi 10 people were killed when the US consulate was attacked on 14 June. Finally on 28 October 2002, a church in Bahawalpur in Punjab, was attacked by six gunmen, killing 17 Christians and a police officer.[ citation needed ] Some of its members were also allegedly connected to the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl.[ citation needed ]