26/11: Sajid Mir gave orders watching TV

Headley told the court that his LeT handler Sajid Mir was in Karachi during the attack

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Watching the 2008 Mumbai carnage live from Pakistan,Lashkar-e-Toiba handlers guided the attackers on phone and even asked them to change tactics to challenge the advancing commandos.

The strategy followed during the 60-hour siege emerged during the testimony of 26/11 co-accused David Headley in a Chicago District Court on Wednesday,the third day of the trial of his childhood friend and Pakistani-Canadian Tawahhur Rana.

Rana has been slapped with a dozen charges in connection with the attack in which 166 persons were killed while Headley,a Pakistani-American and a star prosecution witness,has pleaded guilty.

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Headley told the court that his LeT handler Sajid Mir was in Karachi during the attack. Sajid Mir told Headley that a couple of people were with him. Sajid Mir was in contact with the attackers via phone and he was watching TV coverage of the siege and seeing what was going on in India,he said.

Sajid Mir was praised by Rana for his Chabad House attack strategy and even called him Khalid bin Walid,one of the greatest generals in history,Headley testified.

About the operation at Chabad House in Mumbai,Headley said Sajid Mir told the two boys (attackers) to use mattresses and ambush the Special Forces who were descending down the staircases. Six people were killed in the attack on the Jewish community centre.

According to Headley,Rana said this strategy was tactically brilliant and that he be called Khalid bin Walid,a famous Arab military strategist during the times of Prophet Mohammed in the seventh century. Headley said he told Sajid Mir that he has received a compliment from Rana for his tactical brilliance.

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Headley also said that Rana sent a message for him from Major Iqbal,who was his ISI handler. This was before he took the last trip to Mumbai for surveillance ahead of the attacks.

Headley said Sajid Mir expressed his frustration that he did not follow all his instructions.

Headley told Rana his four targets were Somnath Temple,Bollywood,Shiv Sena and Jyllands Posten,the Danish newspaper which published the controversial cartoons of Prophet Mohammed.

Rana also said that the nine of the 10 Mumbai attackers who died should be given Nishan-e-Haidar (Pakistans highest military bravery award),according to Headley.