M A I N   N E W S

Mumbai Attacks
Headley charged with conspiracy

Chicago, December 7
Pakistan-origin American national David Coleman Headley was today charged in a court here with criminal conspiracy in Mumbai attacks and having links with a retired Pakistani army Major who liaised between him and terror groups, including LeT and HuJI.

The charges filed in the Federal court here said Headley conducted surveillance of targets in Mumbai for more than two years preceding the 26/11 attacks, took pictures and video-graphed various targets, and supplied them to the attackers.

Headley was charged in a 12-count criminal information with six counts of conspiracy to bomb public places in India, murder and maim persons in India and Denmark, provide material support to foreign terrorist plots, provide material support to terror group LeT, and six counts of abetting the murder of US citizens in India.

The charges were announced by Patrick J Fitzgerald, US attorney, Illinois, and Robert D Grant, special agent of the FBI’s Chicago office.

Headley attended terror training camps in Pakistan and conspired with LeT members and others in planning and executing the attacks both in India and Denmark, the charges said.

A Pakistani army Major (retd.) Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed layed the central role in communicating with Headley and facilitating contacts with other co-conspirators in Pakistan, including Lashkar-e-Toiba members. — PTI

FBI team in India

New Delhi: A team of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, USA, today shared inputs with Indian agencies on American terror suspect David Coleman Headley and his associate Tahhawur Hussain Rana’s role in the Mumbai attacks and also the future attacks the two could be planning.

“It was a two-way sharing,” said sources as Indian agencies shared the inputs of the contacts of the duo. In the past one month, a team of the National Investigative Agency (NIA) has been collecting information from various cities and also about the people who had come into contact with the suspects.

The team held discussions with the officials of the Home Ministry and NIA and shared information. The FBI team is also accompanied by a team of the US State Department of Justice. The US teams are scheduled to fly to Pakistan tomorrow.

The information provided by India will be collated by the FBI into its chargesheet that it has to file against Headley on January 1, 2010, in a US court.

Headley and Rana were arrested by the FBI in October this year for plotting terror attacks in India and Denmark. — TNS

Punish guilty, Russia tells Pak

Moscow, December 7
Russia today backed India’s demand that Pakistan punish the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks. A joint statement issued after talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Dmitry Medvedev said: “Russia expresses solidarity and support for India’s demand for bringing to book the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks.”

At a joint press conference with Medvedev, the PM said “existing instrumentalities” should be invoked to put pressure on countries, which continue to encourage terrorist activities, a veiled reference to the need for focused strategies to combat terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

Manmohan’s assessment on ways to deal with terrorism was shared by Medvedev who said the two countries are suffering from terror attacks and there should be intensified global cooperation to evolve counter-terrorism strategies. “We should use every means to have pinpointed action against terrorism,” Medvedev said, adding that that the two countries should consolidate their counter-terrorism strategies which could be one of the “main” areas of bilateral cooperation. — PTI