Mumbai terrorist admits to court: I did it
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday July 21, 2009
THE lone surviving assailant from last year's Mumbai terrorist attacks, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab, has shocked India by pleading guilty in a dramatic courtroom confession.Without warning, Kasab stood up in court yesterday and told the judge in Urdu: "Sir, I plead guilty to my crime."He went on to describe how he travelled from Pakistan to Mumbai by boat with nine other attackers and took part in the bloody assault that paralysed India's financial hub last November.Kasab faces 86 charges, including waging war against India, murder and possessing explosives. In May he pleaded not guilty to all charges.He confessed yesterday that he and an accomplice, Ismail Khan, attacked the busy Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai with a Kalashnikov rifle and grenades. The Government says 58 people died at the railway station and 104 were injured. Kasab was also? involved in shooting several senior police officers before he was captured.The three-day terrorist siege that targeted train stations, exclusive hotels and a Jewish centre left 166 people dead, including two Australians, and more than 300 injured.The Indo-Asian News Service reported that Kasab named the group's Pakistani handlers, including Abu Hamza, Abu Kafa and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who saw them off when they boarded a ship at Karachi. An Indian Government dossier on the Mumbai attack names these three as senior leaders of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba.The public prosecutor, Ujjwal Nikam, said he was shocked by Kasab's confession."It is a great victory for all of us," Mr Nikam said. "The cat is finally out of the bag. We were about to put the 135th witness in the case on the witness stand when Kasab stood up and said that he wanted to make a confession."The guilty plea came on the 65th day of Kasab's trial, which is being held in a special high-security courtroom inside Arthur Road Jail, Mumbai. His confession reverses repeated denials.The Chief Minister of Maharashtra state, Ashok Chavan, called for Kasab to be executed as soon as possible."All those involved in the attacks should be hanged," Mr Chavan said.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
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