Pak Major key link between Headley, terrorist leaders

A Lahore-based retired Major has emerged as a key link between Mumbai terror attack suspect David Coleman Headley and his Pakistani handlers who guided him in planning and plotting strikes in India.

Retd Major Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, also known as Pasha or major, has been charged by the FBI in a Chicago court on two counts of conspiring terror attacks in association with Headley, the US national of Pakistani-origin, and two other Pakistan-based terrorists.

Abdur Rehman coordinated with HuJI leader Ilyas Kashmiri and a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative to commit terrorist acts involving murder and maiming outside the US, and conspired within and outside the US to provide material support to that conspiracy, the FBI said in its 42-page charge sheet.

Headley, arrested on Oct 3, has been charged with criminal conspiracy in Mumbai terror attacks and having links with Rehman who liaised between him and terror groups including LeT and HuJI, according to an FBI charge sheet.

Rehman has also been charged with participating in planning a terrorist attack in Denmark, and coordinating with Headley in his surveillance of the intended targets.

Pasha, referred to as individual A in FBI documents, also facilitated communication on planning of an attack between Headley and another terrorist leader identified as LeT Member A and Ilyas Kashmiri, a leader of Harakat-ul Jihad-al Islami.

According to the FBI charge sheet, Rehman corresponded with Headley beginning late 2008 by email or telephone in coded language regarding the "Micky Mouse Project" – their plot to attack the facilities of a Danish newspaper.

After travelling to Copenhagen, Headley visited Pakistan wherein Rehman took him to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) region in northwestern Pakistan to solicit Kashmiri's participation in the plot.

Following his return from Pakistan, Headley communicated with the LeT leader, who now had shifted his plan from Denmark to India, which has referred as "new investment plan".

... contd.

ALSO READ

Miraculous escape: Woman rescued after 17 days of Bangladesh building collapse

Prince Harry mania sweeps Washington!

Imran Khan's surge raises prospect of fractured mandate as Pakistan goes to polls

India a source of immense frustration for American parents: US lawmaker