US envoy warns Pakistan over re-emergence of banned militants

"We continue to work with the government of Pakistan to monitor the effectiveness of actions taken to curb such extremist groups as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and others," US ambassador Nancy Powell told the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations in southern Pakistan late Thursday.

"These groups pose a serious threat to Pakistan, to the region and to the United States.

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"We are particularly concerned that these banned organisations are re-establishing themselves with new names."

Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, which mainly fight Indian rule in Kashmir, were banned by President Pervez Musharraf in January 2002 with three other extremist militant organisations: the Sunni Sipah-e-Sahaba, Shiite Tehreek-i-Jafria, and Tehreek-i-Nifaz-e Shariat Mohammad.

In August 2001 Musharraf banned Sunni militants Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and its Shiite counterpart Sipah-e-Mohammad.