More Indian targets on LeT radar?
Intelligence agencies believe that Islamist militant outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) has targets in India apart from those publicised recently -- the National Defence College here, plus two prominent boarding schools, Doon in Dehradun and Woodstock in Mussoorie.
Intelligence shared by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) following the interrogation of David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana who were arrested on charges of planning major terrorist attacks in India and Denmark indicate more targets were on the LeT's radar in India, said top intelligence sources.
“We will get a better picture when our team of Indian investigators get permission to interrogate them. They will also interrogate the accused on whether another 26/11-like terror plot was being planned against India,” a source said.
Officers of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), India's external intelligence agency, and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) reached Chicago this week.
They were expected to return Friday but following the disclosure that LeT had other probable targets, the team will stay back for a few more days.
Rana, 48, and Headley, 49, are charged with conspiring to attack the Copenhagen newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which sparked anger in much of the Muslim world in 2005 by publishing 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
The prosecution's case against Rana is on the basis of recorded conversations, emails and other documentary evidence that reportedly demonstrates that he supported the conspiracy.
Court papers also said that in late 2008 Rana, who operates an immigration law service in Chicago, had a discussion with someone associated with the LeT but who was identified only as Individual B.
The FBI also alleged that the duo had been in constant touch with Ilyas Kashmiri of Al Qaeda's 313 Brigade. Kashmiri has a $600,000 reward on his head by the Pakistan government. The US has also been trying to nab him.
Headley engaged in extensive international travel since the second half of 2008 and made multiple trips to Pakistan where he spent a lot of time, often for months at a stretch.
