David Headley testifies about evolving Mumbai plot
David Headley testified that his handler with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, Major Iqbal, told him to check out all the targets carefully, a Reuters report said on Tuesday.
He told me to do detailed surveillance and he seemed upset that (Mumbai's) airport was not on the list, said Headley, an American who grew up in Pakistan.
The key witness in the 2008 Mumbai attacks case said on Tuesday that the list of targets changed as the raids grew near, irritating his Pakistani intelligence contact, the report stated.
Headly said, that Mumbai's police headquarters and an Indian naval station were among the targets. Iqbal had remarked that a targeted Jewish community center was a haven for Israel's Mossad intelligence agency.
Headley was testifying about his knowledge of the Mumbai plot and his use of a Chicago-based immigration business, owned by his Pakistan-born friend Tahawwur Rana, who is the only person on trial for the attack which killed 160 people, as a cover story while he did his surveillance work.
In connection with this case, six Pakistanis have been charged as co-conspirators but are not in custody.
Headley also testified about separate meetings with his Lashkar handler, Sajid Mir, with Iqbal and with a retiredPakistan military officer named Abdur Rehman, known as Pasha.
he further described the attack plot saying that Mumbai train station was initially to be used only as a means for the attackers to escape but then it became a target when Sajid Mir decided the militants would fight to the death.
Sajid wanted them to fight well and said they wouldn't if they were thinking about leaving, Headley said.
Headley said Pasha was anxious to launch the attacks, which ultimately targeted luxury hotels, Mumbai's main railway station, a cafe popular with tourists, the Jewish community center and other sites. For all the actions against Muslims, this would be revenge for that, Headley said Pasha told him the report said.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.