‘LeT militants behind Mumbai fatal assaults’ – Headley testifies on earlier failed attacks

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MUMBAI, Feb 8, (Agencies): An American who helped plot deadly attacks in Mumbai told a court Monday that Pakistan-based militants made two failed attempted attacks on the Indian city before killing 166 people in November 2008. David Headley, who was sentenced in 2013 by a Chicago court to 35 years in a US prison for his role in the atrocity, said Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants had been behind the fatal assaults. “In the month of September 2008 and in October 2008 those attempts by the LeT were unsuccessful on account of accident to the attackers,” said Indian public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, citing Headley’s testimony via video link.

Blamed
India has long blamed the LeT for the coordinated attacks on November 26, 2008 when Islamist gunmen stormed luxury hotels, the main railway station, a Jewish centre and other sites in the country’s financial capital. The attacks, which lasted for three days, have been a consistent source of acrimony between India and Pakistan as New Delhi has called for Islamabad to bring the alleged masterminds to justice. Headley, 55, was giving evidence to a special Indian court from an undisclosed location in America. The court is trying suspected plotter Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari, also known as Abu Jundal. In December it pardoned Headley on condition that he testified to the court.

The pardon does not affect the US sentence. Nikam, who questioned Headley for nearly five hours, said he had also revealed meeting a “Major Iqbal” and “Mr Ali” whom the American said were serving with Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter- Services Intelligence (ISI). “It is clear, we think, that there was a close nexus between ISI and LeT.

That is what has been gathered from the revelations made from Mr Headley,” said Nikam outside the sessions court in Mumbai. Headley, the son of a former Pakistani diplomat, was sentenced after admitting scouting targets for the Mumbai attackers. He spent two years researching sites, even taking boat tours around the city’s harbour and befriending Bollywood stars as part of his cover. After initially denying involvement, Headley confessed and cooperated with US authorities to avoid the death penalty.

Nikam said Headley had told the Indian court he had joined the LeT in 2002 and received two years of “military training”, including “in handling sophisticated weapons like AK47s”. He added that Headley said he had received training from LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks. Headley gave the Indian court in Mumbai details of his role in planning the attack, in which more than 160 people were killed over three days when a group of 10 men rampaged across the city.

Involved
Headley repeated statements that he has made earlier that Pakistan’s main spy agency was deeply involved in planning the attack’s preparations and execution. Headley said he supplied his handlers in the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba with videos and maps of luxury hotels, a Jewish center and the city’s main railway station that were attacked, Prosecutor Ujwal Nikam told reporters after Monday’s five hours of testimony. Headley testified that Lashkar-e- Taiba had tried to launch attacks in India twice earlier without success, said Nikam, who questioned him.

The third attempt was the November 2008 attack, Headley said. Nikam said Headley told the court that in one attempt, a boat in which the men were traveling overturned after hitting rocks and their weapons were lost at sea. Headley said he joined Lashkar-e- Taiba in 2002 and he and other recruits underwent many years of training in Pakistan, where they were taught the use of weapons and bomb making.

Headley, born of a Pakistani father and an American mother, told the court that his name was Dawood Gilani, but he changed it to David Coleman Headley in 2006 to facilitate his travel to India. Nikam said Headley used his US passport to travel frequently to India without raising suspicion and was able to give Lashkar-e-Taiba information that was used to plan and carry out the attack. He said Headley told the court that officials from Pakistan’s intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence were involved. Pakistan insists that ISI has no links to Lashkar-e-Taiba and denies any connection to the Mumbai violence.

Nikam told reporters that “Headley has given us valuable information,” but declined to comment on the testimony about ISI, saying it was up to the government of India to take it up with the government of Pakistan. Headley testified by video conference from an undisclosed location in the United States, where he is serving a 35-year prison term for his role in the Mumbai attack. The Mumbai court investigating the attack gave Headley a conditional pardon in December, which allowed him to become a witness

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