BBC News Page last updated at 05:21 GMT, Friday, 15 January 2010
US charges three men over 2008 'Mumbai attacks'
A leader of a banned Pakistani militant group, a former Pakistani army officer and a Chicago man have been charged with plotting the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Ilyas Kashmiri, Abdur Rehman and Tahawwur Rana have been also charged with planning an attack a newspaper. US prosecutors say they were angry with the Danish paper's decision to publish cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in 2006. The cartoons sparked angry, sometimes violent protests from Muslims in several countries. Last October, Tahawwur Rana, 48, and David Coleman Headley, 49, - both living in Chicago - were arrested and charged with plotting overseas attacks, including on the Danish newspaper. Both men have denied the charges. US prosecutors have now charged retired Pakistani army officer Abdur Rehman and Ilyas Kashmiri, a leader of the outlawed Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba with plotting the 2008 attacks in Mumbai. Neither man is in US custody. The attacks left 174 people dead, including nine gunmen, dead. Abdur Rehman is believed to be living in Pakistan, while Ilyas Kashmiri is said to be living in the Pakistani tribal areas in Waziristan, reports say. Mr Rana, who officials say is a native of Pakistan and citizen of Canada, was arrested at his home on 18 October. He is alleged to have helped Mr Headley plan and finance the Mumbai attacks, and faces up to 15 years in jail. Mr Headley, a Pakistani-American, has been charged with six counts of conspiracy to bomb public places in India, to murder and maim people in India and Denmark, to provide material support to foreign terrorist plots, and to provide material support to the Lashkar-e-Taiba group. US prosecutors say Mr Headley travelled to Denmark twice to plan an attack on the Jyllands-Posten newspaper offices. Mr Headley, who changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006, was arrested on 3 October as he was about to travel to Pakistan following a joint investigation by the FBI and the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (Pet). The charge sheet alleges he also travelled to Pakistan to meet members of the Islamic militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, and also made contact with Harakat-ul Jihad Islami, a Pakistani-based group with links to al-Qaeda.
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