Indian gov't: Pakistan spies tied to Mumbai siege

Pakistan's intelligence agency was deeply involved in planning the 2008 terror attack on Mumbai, going so far as to fund reconnaissance missions to the Indian city, according to a government report on the interrogation of a U.S. citizen convicted in the attack.

Pakistan's intelligence agency was deeply involved in planning the 2008 terror attack on Mumbai, going so far as to fund reconnaissance missions to the Indian city, according to a government report on the interrogation of a US citizen convicted in the attack.

HT Image

The attack, blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, killed 166 people, paralyzed India's business capital and froze peace efforts between Pakistan and India.

David Headley, who pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to laying the groundwork for the attack, told Indian interrogators in June that officers from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency were deeply intertwined with Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The spy agency provided handlers for all the top members of the group, gave them direction and provided their funding, Headley said, according to the government report on his June interrogation. The report, marked secret, was obtained by The Associated Press late Monday.

"According to Headley, every big action of LeT is done in close coordination with ISI," the report said, using a common abbreviation for Lashkar-e-Taiba.

U.S. officials have also accused the spy agency of working with the Taliban to coordinate attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan. In 34 hours of interrogation from June 3 to June 9, Headley described for Indian officials a Lashkar-e-Taiba organization that was filled with former Pakistani army officers and veterans from the conflicts with India over Kashmir, the report said. At one Lashkar-e-Taiba training camp, Headley was drilled by a Pakistani army instructor, he said, according to the report. Every major official with the group had a handler from the spy agency, most of them majors, colonels and even a brigadier, he told interrogators, according to the report.

The Indian report describes in detail Headley's involvement with his handler, whom he identified as Maj. Iqbal, throughout the preparations for the Mumbai attacks.