US convict reveals two failed raids on Mumbai before 2008 attack

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.

Mumbai // Militants in Pakistan made two failed attempts to attack Mumbai before killing 166 people in November 2008, a court heard on Monday.

David Headley, an American who helped to plot the attacks in Mumbai, told the court that Lashkar-e-Taiba militants had been behind the assaults.

Headley was jailed for 35 years by a Chicago court in 2013 for his role in the atrocity.

India has long blamed the militant group for the coordinated attacks on November 26, 2008 when gunmen stormed luxury hotels, the main railway station, a Jewish centre and other locations 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 urged Islamabad to bring the alleged masterminds to justice.

Headley, 55, was giving evidence to a special Indian court from an undisclosed location in the United States.

The court is trying another suspected plotter, Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari, also known as Abu Jundal.

Last December, it pardoned Headley on condition that he testified to the court. The pardon does not affect the US sentence.

Mr Nikam, who questioned Headley for about five hours, said Headley had also revealed meeting a “Maj 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 Lashkar-e-Taiba,” Mr Nikam said.

“That is what has been gathered from the revelations made from Mr Headley.”

Headley, the son of a former Pakistani diplomat, was sentenced after admitting scouting targets for the Mumbai attackers.

He spent two years researching sites in Mumbai, 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.

Mr Nikam said Headley told the Indian court that he had joined Lashkar-e-Taiba in 2002 and received two years of military training, including in handling weapons such as AK47s.

* Agence France-Presse