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A Chicago man pleaded guilty to using his Western appearance as a cover while checking out sites for the deadly 2008 Mumbai siege and plotting to kill a Danish cartoonist.

The Washington-born son of a former Pakistani diplomat and American woman, David Coleman Headley reportedly befriended Bollywood stars and even dated an actress during his lengthy surveillance trips to India.

Headley, 49, began cooperating with investigators immediately after his October arrest.

He formally admitted to 12 terrorism charges after prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty or to allow Headley to be extradited to either India, Pakistan or Denmark to face related charges.

He will, however, be required to "truthfully testify in any foreign judicial proceedings held in the United States by way of deposition, video-conferencing or letters rogatory," prosecutors said.

"Today's guilty plea is a crucial step forward in our efforts to achieve justice for the more than 160 people who lost their lives in the Mumbai terrorist attacks," US Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.

"David Headley is now providing us valuable intelligence about terrorist activities," Holder said.

"Working with our domestic and international partners, we will not rest until all those responsible for the Mumbai attacks and the terror plot in Denmark are held accountable."

Headley spent two years reconnoitering Mumbai, even taking boat tours around the city's harbor to check landing sites for the attackers.

India and Washington blamed the deadly rampage on Pakistan's banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The attacks stalled a fragile four-year peace process between the two nuclear-armed south Asian rivals.

Headley joined LeT in 2002, attending terrorist training camps five times over the next three years. He began plotting the bloody 60-hour Mumbai siege which began on November 26, 2008 in late 2005.

Headley changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006 so he could portray himself in India "as an American who was neither Muslim nor Pakistani" and used the immigration service of an old friend from military school as a cover for his lengthy trips, the plea agreement said.

He was so eager to kill a Danish cartoonist who sparked outrage with cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed that he began working seriously on that plot two months before the Mumbai attack.

Headley also had Bollywood and one of India's most sacred Hindu temples in his sights as he began plotting a second India attack during a March 2009 surveillance trip.

Indian media have reported that Headley developed a reputation as a fitness fanatic while staying in an expatriate enclave in south Mumbai near the US consulate during five lengthy surveillance trips.

He reportedly lived a more devout Muslim life in Chicago with his wife and children.

Headley began working with an Al-Qaeda-linked group in Pakistan called Harakat-ul-Jihad-Islami on the Danish plot after LeT became distracted with the final planning for the Mumbai attack, the plea agreement said.

His contact there, Ilyas Kashmiri who remains in hiding, instructed that "this should be a suicide attack" and that "the attackers should behead captives and throw their heads out of the newspaper building in order to heighten the response from Danish authorities," the plea agreement said.

Headley was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare airport October 3 on his way to deliver 13 surveillance videos he obtained after pretending to be interested in buying ads in Jyllands-Posten, Denmark's highest circulation daily.

Headley was later charged in the Mumbai attacks, as was his old friend from military school in Pakistan, Tahawwur Hussain Rana.

Rana, who owns the Chicago-based First World Immigration Services that Headley used as a cover, insists he is a pacifist who was "duped" by his friend. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is being held in for trial.

Headley's "confession is one example of his regret and remorse," defense attorney Robert Seeder told reporters.

"He provided substantial assistance in the investigation of this case and provide significant critical information regarding intelligence on other matters," Seeder said.

"We believe it is fair to say that his cooperation has potentially saved the lives of potentially hundreds if not thousands of people."

A date has not yet been set for Headley's sentencing hearing where a judge will hear arguments as to whether he should spend the rest of his life in jail or be given leniency for his cooperation.

AFP