FACTBOX - Key facts on Mumbai gunman Mohammad Ajmal Kasab

A frame grab from CCTV footage, released December 7, 2008, taken inside the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai shows suspected militants (top right) and security personnel (bottom left) walking along corridors of the hotel in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.

REUTERS - The lone surviving gunman from the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people, who became India's prime evidence of a Pakistani hand in the three-day siege, made a surprise guilty plea in court on Monday.

Here are some facts about the gunman, Mohammad Ajmal Kasab:

THE ATTACK

* Kasab is one of 10 gunmen who attacked Mumbai in November in a three-day rampage on some of the city's most famous landmarks, including the iconic Taj Mahal hotel.

* Kasab said he was a member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based militant group on U.S. and Indian terrorist lists.

* The baby-faced gunman was captured wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the Versace designer label outside one of Mumbai's main train stations.

* He and an accomplice, who was shot dead, had fired AK-47s inside and killed around 50 people. Once captured he became a prime source for Indian investigators.

BACKGROUND

* Kasab told investigators he comes from Faridkot in Pakistan's Punjab region. He said he was recruited by the LeT and given a year of commando training in Pakistan by a former Pakistani military officer. Pakistan initially denied he was their citizen, enraging India.

* Kasab told police the gunmen took orders by phone from two LeT operations chiefs. One, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, was designated a terrorist by the United States. India says the other, Yusuf Muzammil, is the head of LeT's anti-India operations.

* Kasab's surname is the Urdu word for butcher, which police say was his father's profession. It is unclear if it is his real name.

THE TRIAL

* Kasab was charged with 86 offences, including murder and waging war on India, in a trial in which the prosecution planned to produce more than 1,800 witnesses and 750 pieces of evidence.

* Kasab could face death by hanging if convicted.

* He pleaded not guilty in May and said an earlier confession to police had been coerced.

* Kasab's lawyer had at first argued the defendant was a minor and should be tried in a juvenile court, but Kasab later said he was 21.

* Kasab sparked outrage in India in March when he appeared on the first day of trial smiling and sometimes laughing.

Police were told of several possible threats to Kasab's life, and several lawyers refused to defend him after being threatened by Hindu nationalists.