National Defence College was on al Qaeda hit list

After the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, al Qaeda wanted to target the New Delhi-based National Defence College (NDC) as at one go it would have been able to kill more brigadiers and generals than in any war, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley told a Mumbai court on Friday.

During his deposition on the fourth day, 56-year-old Headley also confirmed that he was spying for al Qaeda, particularly after the Mumbai terror attacks. He said that in February 2009, he had met Ilyas Kashmiri, once considered the successor to Bin Laden. “He was also interested in carrying out some kind of an attack and mentioned a few places for reconnaissance,” he said, adding that this happened during his eighth visit, the one after the terror attacks, from March 7 to 17, 2009, when he was in New Delhi.

Deposing before Additional Sessions Judge G A Sanap, who presides over anti-terror cases in Mumbai, Headley said the places suggested to him include the NDC in New Delhi and Chabad Houses in Pushkar, Goa and Pune. “Ilyas Kashmiri gave me the money for the airfare and other expenses,” he said, confirming that the al Qaeda man was then heading the 313 Brigade in Waziristan.

When Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam asked if the LeT knew about it, he replied in negative. When asked for reason, he said: “I knew they would not allow me to go. They felt things were not secure here in India and I could possibly be apprehended.”

When specifically asked whether he was working for al Qaeda, he said: “Yes”.  He said that Major Abdul Rehman Pasha, who was once his colleague in LeT and later drifted to al Qaeda, provided him the list of Chabad Houses in India.

Asked whether LeT was also interested in carrying out an attack on NDC, he said Major Iqbal had mentioned about this “years ago”. “The LeT was not interested (after 26/11),” he said.