Kasab - destitute Pakistani boy turns into Mumbai terrorist (Feature)

By Sunrita Sen May 6, 2010, 5:52 GMT

New Delhi - A stocky figure in a black T-shirt wielding an automatic weapon; wounded, answering questions from a hospital bed; slumped in a chair waiting for his interrogators - Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab has been the face of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks for millions of Indians following his trial over the past 13 months.

Kasab is the only survivor among the 10 gunmen who, according to investigators, crossed the sea from the Pakistani port town of Karachi to enter India's financial hub and wreak mayhem for 60 hours beginning on November 26, 2008.

Once he and his accomplices were done shooting indiscriminately and lobbing grenades at multiple sites across Mumbai, 166 people were dead.

Much of the story behind the attack has been pieced together through his interrogation reports and a crucial voluntary confession which he later retracted.

While pronouncing Kasab guilty Monday on 86 charges including mass murder and waging war against India, the special court judge said he had accepted most of the confession made before a metropolitan magistrate, deeming it voluntarily given and not under duress as Kasab later claimed.

During that confession, Kasab made a telling comment. Future jihadis, he said, would be inspired by his action.

The killing spree caught on closed circuit television at Mumbai's main railway station showed Kasab spraying bullets from his AK-47. He and his accomplice Abu Ismael killed 72 people and injured over 100.

What turned a destitute boy from rural Pakistan into what public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam described as 'a killing machine?'

A rough profile of the 22-year-old can be drawn from his confessions to the magistrate and the police.

Born in a village in Faridkot district of Pakistan's Punjab province, as the third of five siblings, poverty forced Kasab to drop out of school by the time he was 10.

The young boy then worked as a labourer in the city of Lahore, occasionally helping his father run his food stall, before turning to petty crime.

Some time in 2007, Kasab moved to Rawalpindi where he came in contact with members of the Islamic militant organization the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

The LeT, which translates as Army of God, has said its objective is to introduce an Islamic state in South Asia and to liberate Muslims in India-administered Kashmir.

Indian intelligence agencies claim the LeT has had a hand in several terrorist attacks in India.

While visiting a Rawalpindi market with a friend, Kasab came across LeT activists handing out pamphlets about their organization and activities. The young man decided to join, thinking training in weapons would help his criminal activities.

Indian investigators claim the LeT planned and funded the Mumbai attack and trained the 10 young men to carry out the operation. Kasab's account seems to corroborate this.

For a year, Kasab along with several others, underwent rigorous physical training and was taught the use of weapons at several camps. They were also asked to attend regular prayers and religious readings.

In the last stages, a smaller chosen group were given 'advanced' training that included physical exercises along with handling of automatic weapons, grenades, rocket launchers and mortars.

They were taught how to swim and familiarized with a sea environment and at the same time exposed to materials highlighting atrocities against Muslims in India, specially in India-administered Kashmir.

LeT chief Hafeez Sayeed told them the time had come for jihad and the goal of freeing Kashmir could be achieved by attacking India, Kasab said in his confession.

At last 10 of them were divided into teams of two, shown Google Earth maps and given specific targets in Mumbai.

During interrogation, when Kasab was asked what they were meant to do after the operation, he said they were told to go on killing until they died.

He said their handlers said their families would be financially rewarded for their sacrifice.

During his confessions, Kasab said there were many more young men like him, trained for jihad by the LeT in Pakistan, waiting for a mission.