National Defense College a target in future: Headley

Mumbai attacks co-accused David Headley today testified that New Delhi-based National Defence College is on the hit-list of terrorists as 26/11 mastermind Illiyas Kashmiri believes in this way he can kill more Indian brigadiers than what the Pakistan Army could not do in four wars with India.

Within a few months of the Mumbai terror attacks, Kashmiri, who has now emerged as mastermind of 26/11, met Headley, and asked him to go to India again to do surveillance of the National Defence College in New Delhi and a number of Chhabad Houses in various cities of India.

When Headley, accompanied by Pasha, went to see Kashmiri in Waziristan in February 2009, he among the Lashkar-e-Taiba circles had emerged as a "surveillance expert" thus a key element of the planning of the terrorist attack.

"Kashmiri asked me to return to India. He said that his leadership was very upset about the recent Israeli strike on the Gaza strip and (thus) wanted retaliation," Headley said in response to a question, adding that Kashmiri wanted him to identify the Chhabad houses in India.

On the way back he was given a list of Chhabad houses in India by Pasha.

Headley said since he was coming to India again, he was asked by Kashmiri to also visit National Defence College, which he described as a prestigious Indian institution that teaches high level army offices, Colonels and above.

Pasha told him that if "we were able to conduct" attack on NDC then "we will be able to kill more Brigadiers than Pakistan has done in the four wars" with India.