Chicago Man Charged with Involvement in Mumbai Attacks

Via BBC -

US prosecutors have charged a Chicago man with involvement in the deadly Mumbai (Bombay) attacks of a year ago.

David Headley is said to have helped identify targets for the assaults which left 174 people dead, including nine gunmen.

He had already been accused with another man of plotting to attack a Danish newspaper over cartoons that caused outrage in the Muslim world.

Federal prosecutors said Mr Headley was co-operating with both investigations.

Mr Headley, who changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana are charged with planning attacks on the Danish offices of the Jyllands-Posten, which in 2005 printed controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

US prosecutors said they had also unsealed charges against a retired Pakistani military major, Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, for participating in the conspiracy to attack the Danish newspaper and its employees.

---------------------------

More details can be found in this Dec 7th Rediff.com article...

According to the charges, Headley, who had been born in Pakistan, changed his name from Daood Gilani before his visit to India. He made as many as five trips to Mumbai -- in September 2006, February and September 2007, and April and July 2008 -- each time taking photographs and making videotapes of various targets, including those attacked during 26/11. Headley allegedly conducted reconnaissance of Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, the Leopold Cafe, the Nariman House and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, which were later targeted by the 10 Lashkar terrorists.

Read more in this Nov 25th Telegraph UK article...

David Coleman Headley, also known as Daood Sayed Gilani, made frequent visits to the Indian city where he mixed with the Bollywood set as a cover for his activities, it is claimed. He joined a local gym in the upmarket Breach Candy area and stayed at the Taj Mahal hotel, one of the targets, in April and May 2007. In fact, according to a US indictment, Headley, 49, was a freelance reconnaissance agent for terrorist groups including Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group behind the Mumbai attacks a year ago that killed 173 people. Sources have told the Daily Telegraph that the British collected vital information that identified Headley, a US citizen living in Chicago who was arrested in October. They declined to give further details for operational reasons.