The trial of the man police say is the only surviving gunman in the bloody Mumbai siege began yesterday, with the prosecutor unleashing innuendo against Pakistan's military and intelligence establishments and the defendant's lawyer alleging his client was tortured into confessing.

The trial of the man police say is the only surviving gunman in the bloody Mumbai siege began yesterday, with the prosecutor unleashing innuendo against Pakistan's military and intelligence establishments and the defendant's lawyer alleging his client was tortured into confessing.

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said that Mohammed Ajmal Kasab had a direct hand in the deaths of 72 people and was part of "a criminal conspiracy hatched in Pakistan".

Nikam said the ultimate goal of the attack was the capture of Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan; both countries claim the region and have fought two wars over it.

The attacks, Nikam maintained, were masterminded by the Muslim militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. He said investigations were ongoing to determine the scope of Pakistani involvement in the attack, which killed 166 and injured 304.

Lashkar-e-Taiba is widely believed to have been created by Pakistani intelligence agencies in the 1980s to fight Indian rule in Kashmir.

The prosecutor said one suspected accomplice, identified as Colonel R Saadat Ullah in court papers, worked for an organization run by the Pakistani army under the aegis of Pakistan's Ministry of Information. Ullah, he said, accessed an e-mail account the terrorists used to set up a crucial phone connection.

He said the plot was made possible by a "strategic terrorist culture" that had taken root in Pakistan.

Pakistani officials have acknowledged the November attacks were partly plotted on their soil and announced criminal proceedings against eight suspects.

They have also acknowledged that Kasab is Pakistani but have repeatedly denied their intelligence agencies were involved in the attack.

Kasab and his co-defendants - two Indians accused of helping plot the attack - have been charged with 12 criminal counts, including murder and waging war against India. If convicted, all could face death by hanging.

Nikam said Kasab had undergone extensive military and intelligence training in Pakistan and been chosen for the attack after a "Major General" - whose name and affiliation remain unknown - praised his good marksmanship.

Shortly after 9pm on November 26, Kasab and one other gunman allegedly hailed a taxi to Chhatrapati Shivaji train station, where they sprayed the crowd with bullets and grenades, killing 52 and injuring 109.

They then allegedly made their way to Cama hospital, killing another 16 people before hijacking a car.

Kasab allegedly killed three others in the rampage and finally surrendered in a shoot-out near Mumbai's Chowpatty beach, where police shot his partner dead.

In a confession before an Indian magistrate in February, Kasab said he and his fellow recruits learned the essential skills of a jihadi: violence and prayer during training. He said his teachers instructed him to "kill Americans, British and Israelis because these people are committing atrocities against Muslims."

Kasab's defence lawyer, Abbas Kazmi, asked the court to disregard the confession, saying it had been taken under duress. He said the confession had been "extracted out of coercion and force. It was not a voluntary statement. He was physically tortured during custody."

Kasab appeared subdued in court yesterday, often resting his head in his hand. At his first court appearance two days ago, he chuckled and chatted with his co-defendants. His lawyer said he had advised him that chuckling was inappropriate given the gravity of the charges against him.-AP