Pakistan Arrests Army Officer for Terror Ties

For the first time, Pakistan has acknowledged connections between its military and two Chicago men accused of planning a terrorist attack in Denmark.

This image taken from video shows a courtroom artist's drawing of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, center, 48,...

This image taken from video shows a courtroom artist's drawing of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, center, 48, charged with plotting a terrorist attack against a Danish newspaper, as he appears at a bond hearing before federal Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan in this Oct. 28, 2009 file photo, in Chicago. For the first time, Pakistan has acknowledged connections between its military and two Chicago men accused of planning the terrorist attack in Denmark.

(Lou Chuckman/AP Photo)

Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, chief spokesman for Pakistan's military, confirmed that a retired major had been arrested for connections with David Headley and Tahawwur Rana. Last month, the FBI arrested and charged the men with planning a terror attack on the Danish newspaper that published cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in 2005.

Abbas denied reports that active members of the Pakistani military have been arrested in connection with the case.

Court documents link Headley and Rana to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based terrorist organization blamed for the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, India and the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament.

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Pakistan banned the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, but security officials acknowledge it still exists and over the past few months, members of the organization have told reporters that they are still recruiting for and plotting attacks in India.

The terror group was created in part by Pakistan's spy agency, the ISI, in the late 1980s to attack Afghanistan and India. Abbas denied reports that any current or former ISI agents had been arrested in connection with Headly or Rana.

Had Headley and Rana carried out their alleged attack against the Danish newspaper, Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, it would have been one of the first assaults outside of South Asia with Lashkar-e-Taiba connections, U.S. officials said.

Prosecutors told ABC News.com that the men were in direct contact with the leaders of militant groups connected to al-Qaeda in Pakistan and those behind the Mumbai attacks.

Headley, 49, was arrested on Oct. 3 and has been held without public notice since then, according to prosecutors in Chicago. Headley, a U.S. citizen of half-Pakistani heritage who was born Daood Gilani, had an initial appearance in court on Oct. 11.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE COMPLAINT AGAINST HEADLEY.