Qasab was captured after a shoot-out with police
The image of Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab clutching his gun at Mumbai railway station became a symbol of the November 2008 attacks that horrified the world.
The 21-year-old is the only surviving member of the group that launched a bloody rampage across the Indian city in November 2008, killing 166 people.
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, security forces struggled to collect information about the young man.
Only after several months did Pakistan admit that he was one of their citizens, from the province of Punjab.
More specific details are hard to pin down. Indian officials originally portrayed him as a middle-class boy who spoke good English.
But subsequent reports suggested he came from a remote village called Faridkot, where his father sold food.
He had received little education, the reports said, and had spent his youth alternating between labouring and petty crime.
In an interview with Pakistani media, a resident of Faridkot identified Qasab as his son. He said that he had left home four years before the attacks.
"He had asked me for new clothes on Eid [the Muslim festival] that I couldn't provide him. He got angry and left," Dawn newspaper quoted the man as saying.
'Dark figures'
At some point, India says, Qasab came under the influence of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group. After training in one of several remote camps, they say, he was hand-picked for the Mumbai operation.
He was captured on camera at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, a slight figure in combat trousers and a blue sweatshirt, clutching an assault rifle.
He "walked as if no-one can touch him", a photographer who took the picture of him told the court in June.
"Initially I saw two dark figures. They fired towards the ticket window. When they opened fire towards us it confirmed they were terrorists," Sebastian D'Souza said.
Captured after a shoot-out with police, Qasab was interrogated and then charged with 86 offences including murder and waging war on India.
He Wept
Prosecutors said he had confessed - but his lawyers then said his statement had been coerced, and it was retracted.
His trial began in March and in the early days, correspondents say, he appeared relaxed. He smiled periodically and occasionally joked with officials.
His defence had attempted to argue that he was under 18 and so a minor. Asked in May to confirm his age, he provoked laughter by stating that if prosecutors had believed him then he would not now be in court.
Later his demeanour grew more serious, even erratic.
When a 10-year-old girl injured in the attacks identified him in court, witnesses said he looked grave. When Mr D'Souza testified in June, the young man put his head down and wept.
Confession of the Mumbai Terrorists.
Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab has given a detailed confession of events leading up to the attacks on various targets in Mumbai in November 2008 that killed nearly 170 people. Here are excerpts of his confession provided by the BBC's Prachi Pinglay who was in court:
"In CST [railway station], Abu Ismail and I started firing at the public there with our AK-47 rifles. Ismail was throwing grenades also. I was firing. We went ahead towards the hall. The police caught up with us at the time and started firing at us. We retaliated. Ismail took position behind the trains which were parked. I took position behind him. I fired at the police."
They then leave the station and enter Cama hospital.
"We went up the staircase to the first floor. Ismail went in first and gestured to me to come after him. Ismail told me: "Let's hide here". All the doors were locked there. On the fifth floor, we saw a door ajar. We went inside the ward and met four people there. Those people have come to court… We went to the terrace. Ismail told them to lie down first with their hands on the back. While three agreed, the fourth didn't [referring to Harshvardhan Shrivardhankar, who was an important witness at the trial]. Ismail told me to lock them up in the bathroom. I told them not to create any commotion."
Then he moves on to talk about the first brush with police. Police officer Sadanand Date's evidence matches this account.
"Meanwhile, the person who we asked said that we have to go back the same way. We asked him to walk ahead of us. The witness indicated that there is police ahead of us. As soon as he got down, we saw the police. We ran back to the terrace. Ismail was near the terrace. He started firing immediately. He directed me to keep watch on the terrace.
"We then ran downstairs. Someone fired at me. I fired back. Ismail first went ahead to check if the coast was clear. He then gestured that I should step out of the compound."
As they step out, a police vehicle with three senior police officers comes towards them. In this encounter, three of them died and Qasab sustained injuries.
"We could then see the headlights of another vehicle. We hid behind the bushes there. As soon as the vehicle came, there was firing from it. Ismail also fired. I sustained injury on right forearm, right elbow and left wrist [pointing to his scars]. I fell down. The firing, however, continued.
"Ismail then proceeded towards the vehicle. While checking the vehicle, he fired once. I had gained consciousness by then. I held my gun on the right arm and opened the car door. I removed two bodies. I don't know how many bodies Ismail removed from his end. Ismail sat on the driver's seat while I sat on the seat next to him."
He then describes how they hijacked a Skoda after the police vehicle's wheel was punctured. As they sped along they saw police barriers.
"Soon, we saw some police barriers. The white car passed, but police asked us to stop. One policeman came right in front of the car. Abu got confused and tried to take a U-turn. Suddenly the wipers also started. The police came and opened the door. They took hold of my collar. I was surrounded by police. One snatched my gun, the others started punching me on my abdomen. They continued to assault me. I then lost consciousness and woke up only in the hospital."
The judge asked if he fired any bullets, and Qasab replied: "I didn't fire since I didn't have the gun with me."
He described how they came to Mumbai.
"We were 10 of us. We were put on a small boat in Karachi. Four people - Abu Hamza, Abu Kafa and Abu Jhundal and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi - sent us off.
"Abu Ismail was our Amir [boss]. The others are Abu Umar, Abu Akasha alias Babar Imran, Abu Umer alias Nazir, Abu Shoaib, Abu Ali alias Javed, Abdul Rehman Chota, Abdul Rehman Bada, Hafiz Arshad, and Abu Fadalluh (whose fingers are cut)."
From Karachi they took a small boat. Then they were transferred to bigger boat called al-Hussaini. Then took another boat, the MV Kuber hijacked off Gujarat coast. Four people on the Kuber were killed and a fifth, Solanki, was kept alive for navigation. He was killed as they reached Indian shore.
"We filled in the 10 bags and shifted them in the inflatable boat. The bomb produced in court was also shifted. Each bag has AK-47 rifle, pistol, eight hand grenades, three sets of magazines. Abu Ali and Abdul Rehman Bada took a bag with loose AK-47 cartridges. One Nokia mobile handset was given to each group. There were three big grenades, two small, three black hand grenades (china made).
"Once we sat down, the rope which was holding the inflatable dingy was cut. When we reached near the shore, the GPS was broken and thrown in the water. There were five GPS sets in all. However, I left ours in the boat.
"We reached the shore. We were told to make a phone call... by Abu Hamza. I asked Ismail how we would reach Pakistan. Ismail said I should not worry.
"We got into a taxi after some time. Hamza had told us to keep a bomb in the taxi. I sat on the front seat, while Ismail sat on the back. I kept my bag, containing a bomb in the rear seat. Ismail also had a bomb.
"We got off at CST after which Ismail paid the taxi driver. I had a bomb with me. We entered the gate of CST and went to the side of the bathroom. I took my bag with me and went inside the urinal. I installed the battery of the bomb in the bathroom. It has my name on it. This detail is not there in the charge sheet…
"As per directions of Kafa, I kept my gun ready while Ismail threw grenades. Kafa told us to get into the next hall after that.
In the last session he described how he joined the Mujahideens and underwent training.
"Last year, during Bakr-Id, I was working as a decorator in Jhelum city. But I was unhappy with the meagre amount that I would make.
"My friend Muzaffar suggested that for better money, we should get into robbery and dacoity [armed robbery]. I left the decorator's job and went to Rawalpindi with Muzaffar and took a room on rent. We decided to commit dacoity at a bungalow, as Muzaffar told me his friend knows details about its owner.
"As he went to his village to gather more details, I was roaming alone at Rawalpindi's Raza market. I saw some Mujahideens - long beard, long hair - buying animal skins there."
From here on he describes in detail different places he visited and the different levels of training he received. He starts from the office in the market.
"We went there and knocked the door. A man opened it and asked me what had I come for. I told him we had come for Jihad, so he let us in. One person asked me my name, address and asked me to return next morning with extra clothes.
"We returned with our baggage and we were given a chit on which was written the address - Marqaz Tayyeba, Muridke. The chit was given to a third person and he was given money, and the three of us were told to board a Lahore-bound bus to reach Muridke.
Twenty-one days later he was sent to Mansera with a chit saying Marqas-e-Aqsa. Then he was taken to Battal jungle for further training. After this he did not see his friend, Muzaffar.
"I was told here that I was going for a "big training" and I was taught exercises, operations weapons like AK-47, guns and pistols. After the training, I would cook food and do other daily work as over three months went by.
"Abu Abdul Rehman asked him to get identity card from my native Okhada district. I was asked to go to Muzaffarabad and asked to visit Saeed bhai's office. He told them that he was there for Daura-E-Khaas and filled a form in Urdu with all details.
"… Abu Maaviya was our trainer and trained me for three months in operating rocket launchers, grenades, AK-47s and other sophisticated weapons.
He spent a week at home and returned to Saeed bhai's office. Later Saeed bhai, Abu Kafa and Abu Hamza came there and selected 15 of them. Abu Kahfa was with them for the longest part of training.
"Of the 15 of us, two had run away, while six were sent to Kashmir. So seven of us were left, to which three other boys were added, making us 10 in all - five pairs… sent to Mumbai.
On two occasions, Hamza showed Ismail and Qasab movies and pictures of CST station on his laptop.
"Two days later, we were given trousers and T-shirts, and our photographs were taken and our fake identity cards were made for the mission."
They stayed there for another 90 days. They were also trained to use the inflatable dinghy (boat).
"We were given arms and ammunition to keep in our bags. This ammunition was transported to Al-Hussaini before we were taken to it. Kafa took us to the Karachi shore where Al-Hussaini was anchored."
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