Chicago: US prosecutors charged four Pakistani men on Monday in connection
with the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, that killed 166 people, including six
Americans, although none of the defendants is in US custody.
A second superseding indictment filed in US District Court in Chicago adds
Sajid Mir, Abu Qahafa, Mazhar Iqbal and a fourth defendant known only by the
alias "Major Iqbal" to a case that already included an American businessman and
two others with alleged ties to the Pakistani-based terrorist group
Lashkar-e-Toiba. The US and India say the 10 gunmen in the three-day siege in
Mumbai were trained and directed by Lashkar. The new defendants were charged
with aiding and abetting the murder of US citizens in India, conspiracy to
murder and maim and providing material support to Lashkar. Mir, Qahafa and
Mazhar Iqbal also were charged with conspiracy to bomb public places.
The fresh indictment comes just weeks before the scheduled trial of American
businessman Tahawwur Rana on charges of helping to plan the Mumbai rampage.
Prosecutors say Rana, who owned First World Immigration Services in Chicago,
helped another American, David Coleman Headley, open a First World office in
Mumbai as cover so that Headley could scout sites for the attack.
Headley pleaded guilty to scouting the Mumbai sites and to plotting an attack
on a Danish newspaper over cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. He agreed to
cooperate with US authorities in exchange for a promise that the government
would not seek the death penalty against Headley if he continues to assist their
terrorism investigation. Randall Samborn, spokesman for the US Attorney’s
Office, would not comment on whether Headley provided the names of the new
defendants or if US officials know where they are. It is unclear whether Headley
will testify against Rana.
Prosecutors allege that Mir served as a "handler" for Headley and others
involved in the Mumbai attacks on behalf of Lashkar, that Qahafa trained others
in combat techniques used in the attacks, that Mazhar Iqbal was a Lashkar
commander and that "Major Iqbal" helped plan and fund the attacks. Major Iqbal
also allegedly passed messages to Headley through Rana, according to court
papers. Headley attorney Robert Seeder did not return a phone message left at
his office on Monday night. But he has said that Headley’s decision to help the
US government was "a manifestation and example of his regret and remorse" and
not just because it spares him the death penalty. Also charged with Rana in a
previous indictment were terrorist leader Ilyas Kashmiri and retired Pakistani
military man Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, whose whereabouts were unknown.
In his plea agreement, Headley admitted that he made surveillance videos and
conducted other intelligence gathering for the Mumbai attack and that he met
with Kashmiri in May 2009 in a tribal area of western Pakistan. He said Kashmiri
told him he had a European contact who could provide Headley with money, weapons
and manpower for an attack on Denmark’s Jyllands Posten newspaper, which
offended many Mus lims in 2005 by publishing a dozen cartoons depicting the
Prophet Muhammad. That attack never happened. Online
