NEW DELHI: The lawyer representing the man alleged to be the lone surviving terrorist from the attacks on Mumbai last November said yesterday his client plans to plead "not guilty" to the charges.Abbas Kazmi, lawyer for Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, who police accuse of being the only gunman of a band of 10 to survive the attacks, told a special high-security court yesterday that his client was tortured into confessing to the attacks."I have filed a retraction application and hence he [Mr Kasab] is going to plead not guilty," Mr Kazmi told the Financial Times last night.Any plea of not guilty by Mr Kasab will create shockwaves in India, after Mr Kasab was allegedly captured on close circuit television and by press photographers while on a rampage through Mumbai's main train station with an AK-47 rifle in hand.Police claim he and his accomplices were trained as terrorists in Pakistan before arriving by boat in Mumbai, where they fanned out and attacked the train station, a tourist café, a Jewish centre and three luxury hotels, which they occupied for nearly three days.A copy of Mr Kasab's police confession gave a detailed account of the attacks, including names of his trainers in Pakistan and of his fellow attackers.His trial began in earnest yesterday following several weeks of delays after authorities struggled to find a defence lawyer to represent him in court.Most of the legal fraternity in Mumbai has been reluctant to defend a man who police allege helped perpetrate an event today known as India's 9/11, in which a total of 163 people died.Right-wing Hindu groups have attacked the homes of lawyers who earlier volunteered or were appointed by legal aid to represent Mr Kasab, intimidating most of them into staying away.In court yesterday Ujjwal Nikam, the prosecutor, alleged there was prima facie evidence that Mr Kasab was part of a "well-rehearsed and well-thought out plan backed by Pakistan intelligence agencies".
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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