Chicago:
The latest revelations by David Coleman Headley in a Chicago court disclose his ties with Ilyas Kashmiri, one of the most-dreaded Al Qaeda leaders.
Testifying before the court on the fourth-day of the trial of 26/11 co-accused Tahawwur Rana, Headley, 50, said when he met Kashmiri, the latter told him he had heard a lot about him and that he wanted him to leave Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and join Al Qaeda instead.
Headley said he met Kashmiri at terror camps in Pakistan. Kashmiri is believed to be one of the masterminds of 2008 Mumbai attacks in which over 160 people were killed.
David Headley had earlier told the court that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) provided him training inside a safe house in Lahore.
He had also said that in July 2009, he travelled to England, Sweden and Denmark to meet with two men of Ilyas Kashmiri and discuss the 'Mickey Mouse Project' related to 'Jyllands Posten', the Danish newspaper which published the controversial cartoons of Prophet Mohammed. The project was related to the plot to attack the newspaper.
Headley, a Pakistani-American, is the key witness in the trial of Rana. He has already pleaded guilty to laying the groundwork for the 26/11 attacks and has agreed to testify against Rana to avoid death penalty. (With PTI Inputs)