Al Qaeda, LeT plotted further strikes after 26/11: Headley

Pakistani-American Lashkar terrorist David Coleman Headley, on the fourth day of his testimony via video as an approver in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack trial, told the court on Friday about further plans by LeT and Al Qaeda to strike in India after the 26/11 attacks. He said they had intended to attack then Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray or the Shiv Sena Bhavan, and other important establishments like the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (Barc) in Mumbai, the National Defence College in New Delhi and all Chabad Houses (Jewish/Israeli community centres) across India.

Headley said in his statement that when he had gone to Pakistan in June, he met Maj. Sajid Mir, Abu Kahafa, Maj. Iqbal, Maj. Abdul Rehman Pasha and Zaki-ur-Rehma Lakhvi to show his recommended targets. At this time Lakhvi told him that it was a very important action and it should be done properly. “It will give us a chance to avenge all the bomb blasts India perpetrated on Pakistan,” Lakhvi had told Headley.

Headley on Friday said before special judge G.A. Sanap that during his first visit, when he was asked to make a “general video” of Mumbai, he had gone inside Shiv Sena Bhavan in 2007 and had prepared a video of the Sena headquarters both from inside and outside. According to him he was not asked to make a video of any specific place at that time, but “I thought LeT would be interested in a future attack (on Sena Bhavan)”.

He said when he had gone back to Pakistan and handed over the video to ISI’s Maj. Sajid Mir and asked him if they wanted him to go ahead with the attack (on Sena Bhavan), Mir had said “of course”, and then added: “We would either target the headquarters or their leadership.”

According to Headley, he then started to make friends with Rajaram Rege, who was Uddhav Thackeray’s PRO and who he had met on his first trip to Sena Bhavan in Dadar. He said the two were soon on friendly terms, and that he did this to easily gain entry to Sena Bhavan and get details about the location.

Referring to the National Defence College in New Delhi, Headley said after the success of the 26/11 attacks, an Al Qaeda commander, Ilyas Kashmiri, asked him to go back to India and survey the NDC and Chabad Houses all over India. When special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam asked Headley if he knew what the NDC was, he replied that it was a college for senior military officers. “This was the primary target and Chabad Houses were the secondary targets,” said Headley. He added that before Kashmiri had spoken about NDC, Lashkar commanders had also told him that they had wanted to target NDC years ago.

“It was a high-value target for them as it was the base of senior military officers,” said Headley, who added that Maj. Abdul Rehman Pasha had told him: “If this attack is successful (on the NDC), then we will be able to kill more brigadiers and generals than have been killed in wars in the past.”

Another target was the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai. When Mr Nikam asked Headley if he knew about Barc, he replied in the affirmative, saying: “Maj. Iqbal mentioned to me that at a future date I should recruit somebody who works there for ISI, so that they could get classified details for them.” He said he had also prepared a video of Barc and handed it to Sajid Mir in Pakistan.