Ajmal Kasab

Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab (اجمل قصاب; 13 July 1987 – 21 November 2012) was a Pakistani terrorist and a member of the Islamic terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba through which he took part in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks in Maharashtra, India.

Kasab, alongside fellow Lashkar-e-Taiba recruit Ismail Khan, killed 72 people during the attacks, most of them at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.

Kasab was the only attacker captured alive by police.

Kasab was born in Faridkot, Pakistan and left his home in 2005, engaging in petty crime and armed robbery with a friend.

He left home after a fight with his father in 2005.

He had asked for new clothes on Eid al-Fitr, but his father could not provide them, which made him angry.

He engaged in petty crime with his friend Muzaffar Lal Khan, eventually moving on to armed robbery.

In late 2007, he and his friend encountered members of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah, the political wing of Lashkar-e-Taiba, distributing pamphlets, and were persuaded to join.

On 21 December 2007, Eid al-Adha, they were in Rawalpindi trying to buy weapons when they encountered members of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah, the political wing of Lashkar-e-Taiba, distributing pamphlets.

They decided to sign up for training with the group, ending up at their base camp, Markaz Taiba.

An interrogator and deputy commissioner of the Mumbai Police stated that Kasab spoke rough Hindi and almost no English.

He said his father in effect sold him to Lashkar-e-Taiba so that he could use the money they gave him to support the family.

His father denied it.

Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a senior commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba, reportedly offered to pay his family ₨150000 for his participation in the attacks.

Another report said the 23-year-old was recruited from his home, in part, based on a pledge by recruiters to pay ₨100000 to his family if he became a martyr.

Other sources put the reward at US$4000.

Villagers in Okara claimed on camera that he was at their village six months before the attacks in Mumbai.

They said that he asked his mother to bless him as he was going for jihad and claimed that he demonstrated his wrestling skills to a few village boys that day.

Ajmal Kasab was among a group of 24 men who received training in marine warfare at a remote camp in the mountainous areas of Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan.

Part of the training was reported to have taken place on the Mangla Dam reservoir.

Kasab was seen on CCTV during his attacks at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus along with another recruit, Ismail Khan.

Kasab reportedly told the police that they wanted to replicate the Islamabad Marriott hotel attack, and reduce the Taj Hotel to rubble, replicating the 9/11 attacks in India.

Kasab and his accomplice Khan, then aged 25, attacked the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) railway station.

They then moved on to attack a police vehicle (a white Toyota Qualis) at Cama Hospital, in which senior Mumbai police officers (Maharashtra ATS Chief Hemant Karkare, encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar and Additional Commissioner of Mumbai Police Ashok Kamte) were travelling.

After killing them in a gun battle and taking two constables' hostage in the Qualis, Kasab and Khan drove towards the Metro cinema.

Kasab joked about the bulletproof vests worn by the police and killed one constable when his mobile phone rang.

The two fired some shots into a crowd gathered at the Metro Cinema.

They then drove to Vidhan Bhavan where they fired more shots.

Their vehicle had a tire puncture, so they stole a silver Škoda Laura and drove towards Girgaum Chowpatty beach.

On 3 May 2010, Kasab was found guilty of 80 offences, including murder, waging war against India, possessing explosives, and other charges.

On 6 May 2010, he was sentenced to death on four counts and to life imprisonment on five counts.

Kasab's death sentence was upheld by the Bombay High Court on 21 February 2011.

The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court of India on 29 August 2012.

Kasab was executed by hanging on 21 November 2012 at 7:30 a.m. local time, and subsequently buried within the precincts of Yerwada Central Jail in Pune.

Kasab was born in Faridkot village in the Okara District of Punjab, Pakistan, to Amir Shahban Kasab and Noor Illahi.

His father ran a snack cart while his elder brother, Afzal, worked as a labourer in Lahore.

His elder sister, Rukaiyya Husain, was married and lived in the village.

A younger sister, Suraiyya, and brother, Munir, lived in Faridkot with their parents.

The family belongs to the Qassab community.

Kasab briefly joined his brother in Lahore and then returned to Faridkot.