Mumbai attack trial begins

Ajmal Kasab was one of the gunmen who launced a savage assault on Mumbai - AP photo.

MUMBAI Sometimes breaking into laughter, the man accused of being the lone surviving gunman in last year's Mumbai attacks told an Indian court on Monday that he was from Pakistan and wanted legal assistance, officials said.The trial of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, whom police formally charged in February with 'waging war' against India, began on Monday via a video link with his prison in Mumbai. Gunmen killed 166 people in a three-day rampage in the city last November. A bearded Kasab smiled and looked composed when the judge asked him whether he had received a copy of the charges and if he wanted an attorney, a government lawyer said. 'I don't have a lawyer,' special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam quoted him as telling the judge. 'He was smiling throughout and said that he was from Faridkot in Pakistan,' Nikam said. 'He started laughing when the judge asked him if he understood everything in the charge sheet.' Police say Kasab, who faces a maximum sentence of death by hanging, was injured in a shootout. Pictures of the young man, wearing sneakers and carrying an automatic rifle and backpack, were published around the world after the attacks. Kasab has since been held in jail, with Indian lawyers refusing to defend him. 'He had earlier requested legal assistance from Pakistan. We need some more time to appoint a lawyer to defend him,'Nikam told the judge. The case will be heard again on March 30. Authorities have cited security fears as behind the decision to not produce Kasab in person for the hearings till a special bomb-proof concrete cage inside a Mumbai jail is ready. Police and jail officers have said Kasab, who on Monday was wearing a black T-shirt and blue jeans, has been cooperating. 'He has confessed that he is from Pakistan and has also asked the court for legal assistance,' Rakesh Maria, the chief investigator in the case, told Reuters. Two Indians – Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin – accused of being members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group and of scouting Mumbai landmarks before the attacks also appeared in court by video conference. 'They have both requested for lawyers and the court will take a decision,' Nikam added. India has charged 38 people, including Kasab and the two Indians, in connection with the case. Most of the accused reside in Pakistan, the Indian government says. The charge sheet, which runs to some 11,000 pages, contains accounts of more than 2,200 witnesses as well as other evidence provided by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, which helped Indian police with the probe.