After LeT’s 26/11 mission, al-Qaida recruited Headley for strike in Delhi

David Coleman Headley's life as an agent for multiple masters came to the fore on Friday as he revealed that after the "successful completion" of the 26/11 attacks with the Lashkar-e-Taiba, he was recruited by al-Qaida in a bid to strike terror in Delhi. "Yes, I was working for al-Qaida," he said in response to special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam's question. Deposing before special judge Govind A Sanap via video conferencing for the fourth day, he said the main target for the attack was the National Defence College (NDC) as it was a "high-value target due to the presence of senior officers."

The LeT, Headley said, was kept in the dark about the trip. "I knew they would not let me go. After the Mumbai attacks, media reports made them insecure and they feared I would be apprehended if I travelled to India," Headley said.

The terrorist, now deposing as an approver in the 26/11 case, said al-Qaida member Abdul Rehman Pasha, a retired Pakistani army officer, had reasoned that if the attack on the NDC was successful, they would be able to kill many more brigadiers than in any wars between India and Pakistan. Pasha had defected from the LeT.

Headley said the institute was also high on the target list of the LeT earlier. He revealed that after 26/11, he came back to India from Pakistan on March 7, 2009, on a 10-day trip at the behest of Ilyas Kashmiri, a senior alQaida operative. "Kashmiri mentioned a few places he wanted me to visit and conduct reconnaissance for the purpose of terror attacks. These included the NDC and Chabad house in Delhi and the Chabad houses in Pushkar and Goa," Headley said.

During the trip he had stayed at Holiday Inn and Anand Hotel. "Kashmiri told me to go to the college for defence officers. That was the primary target, Chabad House was second," he said.

Sponsored link

Terrorist David Headley Gets Day Off After Video Glitch in US

Terrorist David Coleman Headley's testimony in the 26/11 case via video link from the US has been cancelled for today because of a glitch. The video link could not be established for over three hours.

Headley is deposing from an undisclosed location from the US on the 2008 Mumbai terror attack in which 166 people were killed.

"There were technical problems from America. There was no visual link, only an audio link. We tried again and again but every effort failed. Our lines were working but American experts failed. The Department of Justice informed us that they regretted that the hearing can take place only tomorrow, said Ujjwal Nikam, special public prosecutor.

Mr Nikam said the US had offered more time in the next hearing.

Headley will testify again tomorrow from 7 am to 1.30 pm.  Over the last two days, he has revealed details about Pakistan's spy agency ISI collaborating with terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was behind the terror attack.

Headley has told the court that he was for working for the ISI and had met many people from the Pakistani Army. On Monday, Day 1 of his deposition, he had recounted how he joined the Lashkar e Taiba in 2002.

Headley has said that the ISI and the Lashkar work in close coordination with each other and the  ISI provides financial, military and moral support to the Lashkar.

Headley has also said that the ISI provides such support also to other terror groups like the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Jaish-e-Mohammad led by Masood Azhar, which is suspected to have attacked the Pathankot airbase in Punjab last month.

Headley said about a year before the 26/11 attack, Lashkar operatives planned an attack on a meeting of Defence Scientists that was to be held at Mumbai's famous Taj Mahal hotel.

Headley also said his Lashkar handler Sajid Mir had asked him to survey the famous Sidhivinayak temple in Mumbai as a possible terror target.  charge that Pakistan’s ISI and the LeT were behind the Mumbai attacks in 2008 that claimed over 166 lives.

Sponsored link