4 Years after: Mumbai attacks terrorist executed

Just four years after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai: Indian authorities executed today the terrorist Ajmal Kasab, the sole surviving Pakistani after the terrorist attacks that killed 166 people, including Chabad emissaries Gabi and Rivka Holtzberg and their four guests Hy"d.

In an official statement from the authorities it was announced that Ajmal Kasab was secretly hanged in the central prison Irooda in Puna this morning, and soon after he was buried there. "The terrorist left no will," it said.

"All the legal procedures of the terrorist attack have been completed," said Interior Minister in a statement to journalists in Mumbai. "Accordingly, Kasab was executed this morning at 7:30 in the Central Prison Irooda."

Kasab was the last survivor of the ten Pakistani terrorists from the terror organization Al Ashkar - Taiba who attacked Mumbai, when they came to India by boat on November 26, 2008, with grenades and automatic weapons. They spread throughout the financial capital of India, focused on luxury hotels, Chabad House and main railway station of the city. The three-day assault was broadcasted live on television, and intrigued the nation and the world.

Kasab was captured by a photographer who marched through the central railway station of Mumbai, with an assault rifle in his hand. The baby-faced Kasab quickly became an iconic image of the siege.

Kasab, 23, who admitted that he was a member of the Pakistani terrorist organization Al Ashkar - Taybeh, participated in the attack on the main train station in Mumbai, killing 58 people. He then continued with his partner to a nearby hospital and killed three police officers.

In May 2010, he was convicted of 86 indictment clauses, including conspiracy to murder and open war against India and sentenced to death by hanging. He appealed to higher courts, but they were rejected and president, Franrab Mukherjee, would not accept the request for clemency earlier this month.

Indian authorities for fear of public pressure, decided to quickly eliminate Kasab, the government conducted a rapid process of appeal and execution, which often can take years, or in some cases decades.

The families of the victims did not hide their satisfaction over the execution.