Mumbai, May 3
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai terror attack held guilty today, is a school dropout who saw 'jihad' as a purpose of his life.

The images of the 22-year-old Pakistani national, ambling cockily in his cargo pants and sneakers, a backpack on his shoulders and an AK-47 gun dangling carelessly from his arm still send shivers among the survivors of the terror attack.

Kasab, the face of the devastating Mumbai attack in which 166 persons were killed, took part in the bloodiest episode of the 60-hour siege that started on the night of November 26, 2008.

He was one of the two heavily armed gunmen who opened fire and threw hand grenades at the city's main railway station Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) in the initial hours of the carnage, killing 52 persons and injuring more than 100.

He was among 10 activists of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba who crossed the sea from Karachi to enter Mumbai to wreak havoc on the country’s financial capital and bring the megalopolis to its knees before being caught alive.

Kasab, a small time thief from Pakistan specially recruited and trained by LeT, started seeing 'jihad' as a purpose of his life and means to gain respectability in his society. One Faridkot farmer reportedly said that Kasab used to return to the village and talk of "freeing Kashmir". — PTI