American charged over Mumbai attacks

The terror attacks in Mumbai that paralysed the city and killed 166 people have been linked to an American.

Prosecutors charged David Coleman Headley, 49, from Chicago, on 12 criminal counts including six counts of conspiracy to bomb public places in India, to murder and maim people.

It is claimed that Mr Headley made six different trips to Mumbai between July 2006 and August last year to research possible locations for attacks, making notes and taking photographs; and each time travelled to Pakistan to share his intelligence with Lashkar- e-Toiba, the Pakistan-based militant group that has been firmly linked to the attacks. On 26 November 2008, 10 men travelled by boat to launch attacks on the city.

Mr Headley changed his name from Daood Gilani three years ago, allegedly to circumvent surveillance. In October he was one of two men charged with conspiring to launch attacks against a Danish newspaper which published "offensive" cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.