Ajmal, the lone captured gunman

Mumbai, Dec. 8: Police today claimed to have identified all the 10 terrorists involved in the Mumbai attack, adding that their names and other details had been sent to the central agencies for verification.

Joint commissioner Rakesh Maria said the real name of the lone captured terrorist was Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman. He said the policemen who drew up the initial panchnamas had by mistake attached the word “Kasab” to his name after Ajmal mentioned he was from the Kasai (butcher) community.

Maria said three of the terrorists, including Ajmal, were from Okara district in Punjab province of Pakistan, three from Multan and two from Faisalabad. “One came from Sialkot. Group leader Ismail Khan came from Dera Ismail Khan district in the North West Frontier Province.”

He added: “The markings on the 9mm pistol recovered from Ismail show it was made at Diamond Nedi frontier army factory in Peshawar.”

The police statement comes a day after a British newspaper claimed to have obtained the voter list of Ajmal’s village, Faridkot, and said it had the names of his parents.

“Ismail… had led several Lashkar operations. He was trained in handling the GPS,” Maria said. The group of 10 started from Karachi in a ship, Al Hussaini, then hijacked the fishing trawler Kuber which brought them to three nautical miles of Mumbai. They got into the inflatable dinghy they had brought and sailed to Cuffe Parade, Maria said. He added that the matchboxes, medical kits, flour and rice packets and washing powder packets found on Kuber seemed to be Pakistan-made.

He claimed that two days ago, Ajmal had said he wanted to write to his parents expressing regret for his actions. “He said he wanted to write he was misled by the group. We are examining whether to allow him to write,” Maria said.

The police have acquired a transfer warrant to question Fahim Ansari, arrested in Uttar Pradesh for the January CRPF camp attack. He is suspected to have done the recce for the Mumbai attack.