An Indian judge Friday allowed prosecutors to summon five foreigners, including FBI agents, to testify in connection with the Mumbai terror trial.
Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told CNN that the identities of the witnesses would not be disclosed. Prosecutors have argued that they need time to examine more witnesses despite confession of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the alleged gunman captured alive from last year’s Mumbai’s terror assaults. The judge has accepted Kasab’s dramatic guilty plea, but has declined to pronounce the verdict, allowing the trial to go on at least until all evidence is complete. Prosecutors insist that examination of more witnesses would help them shed light on why foreigners — among others — were targeted in the November siege. Kasab is one of 10 Pakistani nationals who police said unleashed terror on India’s financial capital for four days and three nights, beginning November 26. The other suspects were killed during the attacks.
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Police said the gunmen killed more than 160 people, including many foreigners, as they laid siege on buildings such as the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower and Oberoi-Trident hotels, Mumbai’s historic Victoria Terminus train station and the Jewish cultural center, Chabad House. Authorities said Kasab, 21, was trained by Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a militant group which was banned in Pakistan in 2002 after an attack on India’s parliament. The group denied responsibility.
