New York: A Pakistani American confessed Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Headley on Tuesday testified before a United States court during the trial of Mumbai terrorist attack, that al-Qaeda leader Ilyas Kashmiri had a plan to kill the CEO of Lockheed Martin in frustration over drone attacks along the Pak-Afghan border and had sent men for surveillance.
Headley said that following his arrest he had offered to help the FBI by giving a sword implanted with a chip to Kashmiri so that he could be targeted by drone attacks.
“There was a plan to kill him [the CEO] because he was making drones,” Headley testified during the trial of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Mumbai terror attack co-accused.
Headley, a Pakistani-American, was being cross-examined by the defence lawyer of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who is standing trial after he was slapped with a dozen charges in connection with the Mumbai attacks in which 166 persons were killed.
Headley replied in the negative when asked if he had been working on a plot to kill the Lockheed Martin boss.
Headley, who has pleaded guilty in the case, testified that Kashmiri had arranged for men to carry out surveillance in the US in connection with the plot to kill the Lockheed CEO.
He testified that he was secretly researching on the Internet at Rana’s home. “My research is more in-depth than Googling someone a couple of times.”
The trial has so far focused on the testimony of Headley, who has exposed the nexus between the ISI and the LeT in carrying out the Mumbai terror attacks.
Headley pleaded guilty to 12 terrorism charges related to the 26/11 attacks and other plots in the wake of his 2009 arrest here.
During his deposition, Headley said only a handful of ISI agents were involved in the attacks. Asked whether he meant that the head of ISI was not involved, he said: “Yes.”
He is testifying against Rana in exchange for avoiding the death penalty and extradition to India, Pakistan or Denmark.
Ilyas Kashmiri planned attack to kill Lockhead Martin’s CEO
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