Sole surviving Mumbai terrorist makes late confession

An Indian judge has accepted the guilty plea of the lone surviving gunman in the attacks in Mumbai but ordered the trial to continue because all the charges had not been addressed. The Pakistani gunman, Ajmal Kasab, unexpectedly confessed on Monday to taking part in the November 2008 terrorist attack that killed 166 people, but the court delayed a decision on whether to accept his confession. Prosecutors argued that his statement was incomplete and accused Kasab of seeking clemency. In response, Kasab said he was willing to hang for his actions.

The judge, ML Tahiliyani, on Thursday decided to accept Kasab's confession, but refused to deliver a judgment based on it. He ordered the trial to continue because Kasab did not address all 86 charges against him.

Kasab's confession linked the attack to a shadowy but well-organised group in Pakistan. India has said that terrorist groups across the border were behind the attack, and that Pakistan is not doing enough to clamp down on them. The special public prosecutor, Ujjwal Nikam, argued that the prosecution should be allowed to submit further evidence as Kasab had not made a full disclosure about his role in the terror attacks. "The prosecution has to establish before the court why Mumbai was targeted, why foreigners were attacked and has to also expose the infrastructure and operations of terror group LeT."

"If the Pakistan government is serious about combating terrorism then it can use this evidence in a court there, as there is a provision for the same in Pakistan's criminal procedure code," Nikam said outside court.