Indian court convicts Pakistani in Mumbai siege

MUMBAI, India — An Indian court on Monday convicted the only surviving gunmen in the bloody 2008 Mumbai siege, ruling Mohammed Ajmal Kasab was guilty of murder and waging war for his role in the attacks that left 166 people dead and deeply shook India. Two Indians accused of helping plot the violence were acquitted.

The verdict also implicated Pakistanis still at large in the attacks, which is likely to complicate recent attempts by Islamabad and New Delhi to rekindle formal peace talks. Calls for swift retribution rang out from the streets of Mumbai, while in Pakistan doubts swirled about India's intentions and the fairness of the trial.

The November siege reverberated across India. Millions watched on television as the violence stretched over three days, leaving corpses scattered through some of the city's best-known places.

The judge said Kasab, 22, had personally killed seven men and, with his partner — who was killed by security forces during the attacks — had a hand in 47 more deaths.

Kasab, his face shadowed by a light beard, spent most of the two-and-a-half-hour proceeding slumped motionless in his seat, his head bowed.

After standing briefly while the judge read out a summary of his guilt, Kasab sank silently to his seat and covered his eyes with his hand.

Kasab was convicted on nearly all the 86 charges against him, including murder and waging war against India. The handful of acquittals were on technicalities or for relatively minor charges, such as forging an identification card.

A sentencing hearing was scheduled for Tuesday. Kasab faces a possible death sentence.

Judge M.L. Tahiliyani's 1,522-page ruling went farther than pronouncing Kasab's individual guilt — a judgment many here saw as a fait accompli in a case so overwhelmingly and publicly documented. For instance, photos of Kasab striding through Mumbai's main train station, an assault rifle in his hand, became iconic images of the attacks.

The judge said Kasab and nine other gunmen came ready for sustained urban combat, bringing with them everything from machine guns to a GPS device and staying in touch with their handlers on cell phones.

"It was not a simple crime of murder," Tahiliyani said. "There was a conspiracy to wage war."

India accuses the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba of masterminding the attack. In his verdict, the judge said Kasab was a member of the group.