David Headley, serving a jail sentence in the US, testified in a Mumbai court via video link. (File Photo)
Highlights
- Headley wanted to fight against Indian troops in Kashmir
- Headley was told he was too old to fight and would be used elsewhere
- Headley was then sent to make video recording of various spots in Mumbai
, testifying from the US via video link on 26/11,
told a Mumbai court today that he was considered "too old" to be involved in a terror attack.
"I intended to go to Kashmir to fight against Indian troops, but they (Zaki Ur Rahman Lakhvi) didn't send me. They told me that I'm too old for this and they will use me for some other purpose," Headley told the prosecutor.
Zaki Ur Rahman Lakhvi is a top commander of the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, and was the handler for the 10 terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008.
Headley - who had recced targets for the Mumbai attack - told the court that he visited India eight times before 26/11.
He also said the 26/11 terrorists made two earlier attempts to attack Mumbai in September and October 2008.
Headley has confirmed the Lashkar's role in the attacks and has also
named the Pakistani intelligence ISI and terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
He has also revealed that he took his first "course" in terror with the Lashkar in 2002 at Muzaffarabad.
Lashkar's Sajid Mir had told him to shoot videos in Mumbai, he said, and also instructed him to change his name from Dawood Gilani to David Coleman Headley.
In December last year, Headley was pardoned by the Mumbai court after he turned approver or a prosecution witness. He has accepted the court's conditions that include disclosure of the "full and true facts" leading to the 26/11 attacks and his role in it.