Pakistan's spy agency ISI helped terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba to execute the Mumbai terror attacks, David Coleman Headley, a key 26/11 accused who pleaded guilty to laying the groundwork for the 2008 strikes, told a court here today.
The testimony by 50-year-old Headley, a prosecution witness, came as the trial of Mumbai attacks co-accused and his longtime friend Tahawwur Rana, a Canadian of Pakistani origin, opened in the US at Chicago's Dirksen Federal Building. Pakistani-American Headley is also a co-accused.
Headley had scouted India's key atomic installation BARC and had visited Shiv Sena headquarters in Mumbai, said prosecutor Sarah Streicker told Judge Harry Leinenweber. Headley had gone to Shiv Sena office to build contacts with its public relations officer Rajaram Rege.
In his statements, Headley said ISI provided help to LeT and that he first started training in Pakistan more than a decade ago with the Lashkar.
Headley said LeT chief Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind behind the 26/11 attacks that killed 166 people, motivated him for carrying out a "jihad".
Saeed told him that the satisfaction of one second of "jihad" is equal to "100 years of worship."
LeT operators also chose Headley because he was an American and that people would least suspect him. He also mentioned that Hafiz Saeed and others like Major Abdur Rehman Pasha, Major Iqbal, Zaki Saab, Sajid Mir helped him.
Streicker said that Rana knew all along what Headley was doing with the preparation of the attacks and that "India deserved it".
