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Gunman: Plan Changed

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The Associated Press

Published: December 14, 2008

MUMBAI, India - The gunman captured in last month's Mumbai attacks had originally intended to seize hostages and outline demands in a series of dramatic calls to the media, according to his confession obtained Saturday by The Associated Press.

Mohammed Ajmal Kasab said he and his partner, who massacred dozens of people in the city's main train station, had planned a rooftop standoff, but abandoned the plans because they couldn't find a suitable building, the statement to police says.

Kasab's seven-page confession, given to police over repeated interrogations, offers chilling new details of the three-day rampage through India's commercial center that left 165 people plus nine gunmen dead.

After reaching Mumbai, Kasab and his partner, Ismail Khan, the group's ringleader, headed to the train station by taxi.

"Ismail and myself went to the common toilet, took out the weapons from our sacks, loaded them, came out of toilet and started firing indiscriminately toward the passengers," Kasab told police.

The men then searched for a building with a rooftop where they had been told to hold hostages and call a contact named Chacha, whom Kasab identified as Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the suspected mastermind.

Taking fire from police, the two had trouble finding a "suitable building" and stormed a hospital. There they searched for hostages and traded gunfire with security.

Kasab, 21, came last year to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terrorist group banned by Pakistan in 2002 and blamed by India in the attacks, looking to buy guns.
Kasab went on to receive rigorous training in weapons handling and other skills, attending at least six Lashkar camps, he said. Lashkar operatives lectured recruits on Indian security and intelligence agencies, and taught them how to evade pursuing security forces.

After Kasab and nine others were picked among a group of 32 recruits, they headed to Karachi, Pakistan, in September and practiced traveling on speed boats.

Police said Saturday that Kasab has written to Pakistani officials to request legal help.

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