Zeenews Bureau
Chicago: In what can be seen as a major victory for India, Lashkar-e-Toiba operative David Headley has told National Investigating Agency (NIA) sleuths that the Mumbai attacks were carried out by the Lashkar-e-Toiba under the "guidance" of Pakistan's ISI.
As per a report published in a English daily Thursday, David Headley has told the investigators that serving Pakistani Army officers were involved in the 26/11 terror mayhem in Mumbai, and one of them was "on the other side of the telephone line" with the terrorists during the 2008 attack.
The report further reveals that Headley has provided details about the terror network that operated to execute the deadly strike in India’s financial capital. He has also identified the Pakistani handlers: Sajjid Mir, Syed Abdur Rehman Syed and Pakistani army intelligence agents Major Iqbal and Major Sameer Ali.
Regarding the actual planning done by the Lashkar-e-Toiba, Headley named Mohammed Illyas Kashmiri, a top ranking al Qaeda commander, was the man behind the plot.
Headley has also confessed ISI wanted Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) to disown the 26/11 attacks in order to divert the global attention towards the al Qaeda, adding that Pakistan’s intelligence agency had 4-5 al Qaeda names ready to be projected as the conspirators of the Mumbai attacks. But the ploy could not be played out as Lashkar leader Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi, one of the 26/11 masterminds, refused to play along.
The 49-year-old Pakistani-American also admitted to the NIA that he was a member of Lashkar during his initial days, but later drifted towards al Qaida under the influence of Major Abdul Rahman Saeed.
Saedd is supposed to have served with 6 Baloch Regiment of Pakistan. He left the Army in 2002 to in order to join al Qaeda.
First Published: Thursday, June 10, 2010, 14:53