'We were told to kill until the last breath'

This article is more than 10 years old
Captured militant describes meticulously planned operation to target Britons and Americans
Azam Amir Kasab filmed on CCTV inside the Chhatrapati Shivaji train station in Mumbai
Azam Amir Kasab filmed on CCTV inside the Chhatrapati Shivaji train station in Mumbai. Photograph: Reuters

The only attacker taken alive during the bloody siege in Mumbai told police he was ordered to "kill until the last breath", it was reported today.

Azam Amir Kasab, 21, from Pakistan, told interrogators the attacks had been meticulously planned six months ago and were intended to kill 5,000 people.

Kasab reportedly said the mastermind of the plot briefed the militants to "target whites, preferably Americans and British".

He said the militants, who were highly trained in marine assault, had arrived in the city by boat. They planned to blow up the Taj Mahal Palace hotel after first executing British and American tourists and then taking hostages.

Police sources said Kasab told officers that he and his fellow terrorists trained in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for five months before taking a month off before the attacks, the Daily Mail reported.

They left an isolated beach in Karachi for Mumbai on November 21 and were each given eight hand grenades, an AK-47 rifle, an automatic pistol and ammunition.

Kasab, with 25-year-old accomplice Abu Ismail, opened fire at around 10.20pm on Wednesday, killing dozens of people standing at Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station.

Then they hijacked a police four-wheel drive vehicle, killing the two officers inside. Kasab told investigators they continued their killing spree by attacking a petrol station and blowing up a taxi before being stopped.

After being captured, Kasab was taken by hospital to Nair hospital where he was treated for minor injuries. He reportedly told medical staff: "I do not want to die. Please put me on saline."

A police source said Kasab communicated the information in a "dispassionate way", as if it was "of no real consequence".

"I have done right," he told investigators. "I have no regrets."