The sole Mumbai gunman captured alive has told police he was trained in
Pakistan and ordered to “kill until the last breath”, according to a leaked
account of his interrogation.
Azam Amir Kasab, 21, a Pakistani national, claimed the terror strikes, which
left nearly 200 dead, were intended to kill as many as 5,000 people and that
he and his fellow militants were ordered to target whites – especially
Britons and Americans. The claims were made in what a police source said was
a transcript of his questioning.
Kasab was captured after being shot in the hand by police in a standoff near
Chowpatty beach, a popular evening destination for local families, in south
Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) on Wednesday night. A policeman and one
other terrorist were killed in the same encounter.
Earlier, Kasab and his accomplice had sprayed the concourse of Chhatrapati
Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai’s main train station, with gunfire, killing
indiscriminately. While there, he was caught on camera wielding an automatic
rifle.
The photographs of the boyish gunman, wearing combat trousers, trainers, a
black t-shirt and a blue haversack stuffed with ammunition, promise to
become a defining image of the assault on Mumbai, the deadliest terror
strike unleashed in India in 15 years.
In a statement, Kasab said he had been trained by Lashkar-e-Toiba, a
well-known Pakistani-based militant group that has been linked to several
operations carried on Indian soil. The group is thought to have been behind
the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament in Delhi, where terrorists stormed
the building with guns and grenades, taking hostages as part of a suicidal
mission.
The statement said: “I was trained by militants of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba in
Pakistan for three months and asked to cause maximum casualties in Mumbai.”
Police said that each terrorist was given 6-7 magazines with 50 bullets, eight
hand grenades, an AK-57 rifle, an automatic revolver and a supply of dry
fruits. Kasab was taken to hospital after his arrest. Reports said he
pleaded with staff not to be allowed to die.
A British security source said it was too early to be sure of the statement’s
veracity. There will be apprehension, however, over the reputation of the
Mumbai police to place undue pressure on suspects in custody.
It is thought that early questioning was carried out by officers from Bombay’s
Anti-Terrorism Squad and that experts in areas such as terrorist tactics and
financing will be drawn in later.
Ajit Doval, a former head of India’s Intelligence Bureau told The Times it was
unlikely that Kasab had yet being given “the third degree” – a term that can
mean anything from arm twisting to a severe beating and torture, methods
commonly employed by Indian police. “This is far too high profile a case for
anything illegal or any undue pressure tactics to take place during
questioning,” he said. “It is not as if this guy can protest his innocence.”
It is possible, however, that Kasab, who was being held in Mumbai’s Lamington
Road police station, could be administered a “truth serum” -- sodium
pentothal -- another method used widely in India but banned in most
democracies.
A document filed by the Mumbai police on the basis of the interrogation says
that Kasab and his accomplices were trained for three months before a
month’s break. During further training, the group was taught how to hijack a
vessel at sea. The statement added that the terrorists were indoctrinated by
being shown images of “atrocities on Muslims in India”.
Kasab is said to have admitted sailing from the port city of Karachi, in
Pakistan. About midway through the journey to Mumbai, police believe the
terrorists hijacked a second boat, a 14-metre fishing vessel, which was
later found off the coast of Mumbai with one dead body aboard – that of a
crew member whose throat was cut. Four or five other crew members had been
killed and dumped overboard.
Finally, the terrorists used inflatable dinghies to make their way on shore.
Local witnesses said that they saw a small inflatable boat carrying at least
eight men, now believed to have been the terrorists, landing at the Badhwar
Park area of Colaba just before the first attacks took place. When one local
fisherman confronted the men they levelled their guns at him and said “humko
tension hai” (we are feeling very tense).
