Headley echoes Kasab: names Abu Qahafa as 26/11 trainer

In further corroboration of David Coleman Headleys involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attack....

In further corroboration of David Coleman Headleys involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attack,the FBIs latest court submission states that Headley named Abu Qahafa in a conversation with accomplice Tahawwur Rana as the person who trained the 10 terrorists.

This matches Mohammed Amir Ajmal Kasabs statement who also named Abu Qahafa as a key trainer. Kasab told interrogators that Qahafa briefed them on the layout of Mumbai,gave detailed computer presentations on the target sites and how to reach these,including entry and exit points.

The FBI has already charged Headley with surveying the attack sites in Mumbai and then passing on information to handlers in Pakistan. Clearly,Headley and Qahafa were in close coordination.

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In Mondays submission before a Chicago court,the FBI,providing details of a conversation where Rana is effusive in his praise for those behind the 26/11 attack,mentions Headleys response: Training was by Abu Qahafa.

According to the FBI,Headley explained that LeT Member A briefed the attackers on the targets. The general understanding here is that Sajid Mir is the person being referred to as LeT Member A as he was in touch with the attackers even during the attack. Headley further said: This jamaat (group) prepares people really well. Rana agreed,Yeah,there they stood their ground.

FBI accounts reveal that an impressed Rana named LeT member A as Khalid bin Walid who is a historical figure known as the most successful commander of the Prophet Mohammed.

This came to light in an email that Headley sent to LeT Member A on August 11,2009,where he mentions that he and Rana heard some music videos on the net,you had made.

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The term music videos,the FBI believes,is coded reference to taped intercepts between LeT Member A and the Mumbai attackers. The email was apparently referring to a programme on Channel 4 that broadcast the recordings of the 26/11 communication intercepts.

In that email,Headley informs the name Rana had given to Let Member A. In return,LeT Member A asks Headley to convey his regards to Dr Rana.

While the submission is aimed at proving Ranas prior knowledge about the attack,it indicates that former Pakistan military officer Major Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed alias Pasha was also aware of the attack. So far,the FBI had only implicated him in the plot to attack the Danish newspaper.

Pasha is,in fact,the person referred to as Individual A in previous affidavits and the one who was in close touch with Ilyas Kashmiri and a very close contact of Headley.

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The FBI submission states that Rana was told about the attack on Mumbai while in Dubai where he was from November 21 to 24,2008. Interestingly,he had flown to Dubai from Mumbai by an Emirates flight after a three-week stay in India.

The FBI believes on the basis of a conversation between Headley and Rana that Pasha informed Rana of the Mumbai attacks in Dubai. However,when confronted with intercepts of this conversation and asked what the two were taking about,Rana told investigators: That thing that happened in,uh,uh,India…um,they were,uh uh,I think people who hijacked hotels or something (in) Mumbai.

He acknowledged having met Pasha and staying with him. But Rana,the FBI says,denied having been told about the attacks and has claimed that the two spoke about the fighting in Kashmir.