India executes Mumbai attacker
Ajmal Kasab was ordered to be hanged after being convicted over his role in the 2008 attacks, which killed 166 people.
Last Modified: 21 Nov 2012 03:20
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Armed men attacked three hotels, a railway station, restaurant and a Jewish centre during a 60-hour rampage [EPA]
Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the sole surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks, has been hanged in an Indian prison, the country's home ministry says.
Kasab was executed at 7:30am (02:00 GMT) on Wednesday at Yerwada jail in Pune in the western Indian state of Maharashtra after India's President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his mercy plea.
In August, India's Supreme Court upheld Kasab's death sentence over the attack on a string of targets in Mumbai that killed 166 people.
Kasab was a Pakistani national who said he belonged to the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Al Jazeera's Sohail Rahman, reporting from New Delhi, said that the execution happened very quickly.
"The state of Maharashtra said they did not want him to be executed until there was a more conclusive summary of who was responsible for that attack."
India had blamed the violence on the Lashkar-e-Taiba group and elements in the Pakistani military.
KP Pawar, Kasab's defence lawyer, had said that he had committed the crime under duress and pressure from the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Pawar had asked for the minimum punishment of life in prison for his client.
