American Says He Visited Mumbai 7 Times Before 2008 Attack

A Pakistani-American who helped plan a 2008 attack on India’s financial hub told a court in India Monday that he traveled to India seven times to scout potential targets for a Pakistan-based group.

David Coleman Headley gave the court details of his role in planning the attack in which more than 160 people were killed.

Headley said he supplied his handlers in the Pakistan-based Islamic group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, with videos and maps of hotels, a Chabad House and the city’s main railway station that were attacked. Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivkah were killed in the attacks on the Chabad House, along with four other Jews, Hy”d.

Ujwal Nikam, the public prosecutor who questioned Headley during Monday’s testimony, said Headley told the court that Lashkar-e-Taiba had made two attempts to launch attacks in India but did not succeed. The third attempt resulted in the November 2008 attack, Headley told the court.

Headley testified by video conference Monday from an undisclosed location in the United States where he is serving a 35-year prison term for his role in the Mumbai attack.

The Mumbai court investigating the attack gave Headley a conditional pardon in December, which allowed him to become a witness.