US to consider giving India further access to Headley

The United States will consider giving Indian authorities access to David Headley for additional questioning by its investigating agencies about his role in the Mumbai terror attacks, the State Department has said.

"In the past, we have given India full access to Headley, and I think that when a case is in litigation it's impossible to do that. But moving forward, I think we would consider further access," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said at his daily news conference.

Headley, a Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative, has completed his testimony before a Chicago court conducting the trial of his childhood friend Tahawwur Rana, another key accused in the Mumbai terror attacks.

Headley has pleaded guilty to 12 terrorism charges related to Mumbai attacks and other plots in the wake of his 2009 arrest in the US.

However, Rana, a Pakistani-Canadian, has maintained that he is not guilty of "support to terrorism".

During Rana's trial, Headley testified that he had conducted a surveillance of the German Bakery in Pune and identified Chabad houses in Delhi, Pushkar and Pune as potential bombing targets.