Surviving Mumbai attacks gunman pleads guilty

MUMBAI (AFP) – A Pakistani man on trial in India over last year's Mumbai attacks pleaded guilty on Monday, admitting his part in the atrocity for the first time.

Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, 21, told a special prison court -- where he had originally pleaded not guilty -- that he wanted to confess, before narrating how the attacks were carried out.

"I want to confess my crime," he told the court. "Yes, I did it."

Kasab's lawyer, Abbas Kazmi, was unaware that his client was going to take such action, TV news channels reported.

Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told reporters that Kasab had "stood up and informed the court that he was willing to confess."

A total of 166 people died and more than 300 others were wounded when 10 heavily armed gunman attacked sites across south Mumbai, including luxury hotels, the city's main railway station, a restaurant and a Jewish centre.

Kasab and an accomplice opened fire with AK-47 assault rifles and threw hand grenades at commuters at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, killing 52 and wounding 109 in the bloodiest episode of the 60-hour reign of terror.

The pair, who were seen on CCTV cameras and by a string of witnesses, then fled the station, firing indiscriminately on the way, killing civilians and a number of senior police officers.

Among the dead was the head of the city's Anti-Terrorism Squad, Hemant Karkare.

Kasab was the only one of the 10 gunmen to survive. All are said to have been trained, equipped and financed by the banned, Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

"I believe that the entire conspiracy was hatched by these Pakistani nationals and it was only a formality," Ashok Chavan, the chief minister of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is capital, told the NDTV news channel.

"All those involved in the 26/11 (November 26) attacks should be hanged."