MUMBAI, July 20 The lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks pleaded guilty on Monday and gave a detailed account of the plot and his role in the rampage that left 166 people dead and paralysed the city for three days.

In a verbal statement, Ajmal Kasab described his group's journey from Karachi on a boat, their subsequent landing in Mumbai on Nov 26, and his assault on a railway station and a hospital with a comrade he identified as Abu Ismail.

The other gunmen, also armed with grenades, attacked a Jewish centre and two five-star hotels, including the Taj Mahal. The rampage ended at the historic hotel days later after commandos killed the attackers holed up there.

“I was firing and Abu was hurling hand grenades (at the railway station),” Kasab told the court. “We both fired; me and Abu Ismail. We fired on the public.”

Earlier, Kasab stood up before the special court hearing his case just as a prosecution witness was to take the stand and addressed the judge. “Sir, I plead guilty to my crime,” he said, triggering a collective gasp in the courtroom.

The statement was recorded and signed by Kasab, formally reversing his plea from innocent to guilty in the trial that started April 17.

Kasab, 21, told the court he worked as a shop assistant in Jhelum, Pakistan. Unhappy with the low wages he and a colleague named Mustafa went to Rawalpindi with the intention of becoming professional robbers, he said.

While attending a festival in Rawalpindi, they approached some men with long beards. The bearded men put them in touch with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which gave them weapons' training, he said.

Before coming to India, Kasab said he lived in a house in Karachi for a month and a half with 10 other young men. All of them were transferred to another home and taken to sea where they met four handlers. One of them was an Indian named Abu Zundal, he said.

After attacking the railway station and hospital, Kasab said he and Ismail drove to a nearby beach in a hijacked vehicle. He was later captured by police after a shootout in which Isamil was killed. He was treated for wounds and has since been held in solitary confinement in a Mumbai jail.

Reason for confession

Kasab said his confession was not coerced. “There is no pressure on me. I am making the statement of my own will,” he said.

Asked by Judge M.L. Tahiliyani why he confessed now after consistently denying his role, Kasab said it was because the Pakistani government recently acknowledged he was a Pakistani citizen, dealing a blow to his defence.

“If Pakistan has accepted me as its citizen, then end this case and punish me for my crime,” he said. “My request is that we end the trial and I be sentenced.”

Mr Tahiliyani said no immediate judgment would be issued and the trial would resume on Tuesday.

Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit declined to comment on Kasab's court admission.

Kasab's dramatic statement took those at the hearing by surprise.

“Everybody in the court was shocked the moment he said he accepts his crime. It was unexpected,” public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said. “We have finally extracted the truth.”

“Everyone is surprised. I am also surprised,” said defence lawyer Abbas Kazmi.

Monday's development came days after Pakistan gave a dossier to India with details of its investigation into the terrorist groups that New Delhi claims were responsible.Late last month the special court also issued arrest warrants for 22 Pakistani nationals accused of masterminding the attacks. India blames Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Trial in Pakistan

Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, said to be the founder of LeT, was arrested with two other senior figures by Pakistani authorities in December.

A court in Lahore freed Hafiz Saeed in June saying there was no evidence against him. The federal government will appeal the verdict.

In his statement on Monday, Kasab did not name Hafiz Saeed although he had described him as a conspirator during interrogation.

Mr Nikam linked the confession to the forthcoming trial in Pakistan of five men accused of involvement in the attacks, including LeT operatives Zarar Shah and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind.

Kasab told the court that Lakhvi was one of a number of LeT members who saw off the gunmen from Karachi, PTI said.

Ashok Chavan, chief minister of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, welcomed Kasab's guilty plea and told the NDTV news channel “All those involved in the 26/11 attacks should be hanged.” —AP/AFP