MUMBAI, India — The gunman captured in last month’s Mumbai attacks had originally intended to seize hostages and outline demands in dramatic calls to the media, according to his confession, obtained Saturday by The Associated Press.
Mohammed Ajmal Kasab’s seven- page confession, given to police over repeated interrogations, offers chilling details of the three-day rampage through India’s commercial center that left 164 people dead, plus nine gunmen.
He said the assault, which started Nov. 26, was initially set for Sept. 27, though he doesn’t explain why it was delayed. The gunmen had been told by their handlers to carry out the attacks during rush hours when the city’s main train station is teeming with commuters.
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.
As a police officer opened fire, the two retaliated with grenades before entering another part of the station and shooting more commuters.
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 behind the attacks. Chacha, which means “uncle” in Hindi, would supply phone numbers for media outlets and specify what demands the two should make.
The two had trouble finding a “suitable building” and stormed a hospital they mistook for an apartment building.
