New Delhi  - Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone Pakistani gunman suspect captured during the Mumbai terrorist attacks, has confessed before a court that he and his colleagues were trained under the supervision of a Pakistani army official, the public prosecutor said Friday.

The trial of Kasab, who the prosecution accused of killing 166 people during the attacks, opened Wednesday and resumed on Friday after the special court in Mumbai appointed a new lawyer for the leading suspect.

Twenty-one-year-old Kasab, allegedly a member of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist organization, is being tried along with two Indian suspects in the case.

Prosecutor Ujwal Nikam said this was a conspiracy hatched in Pakistan to wage war on India by attacking several cities. Over 170 people including nine gunmen were killed in the attacks last November.

Nikam said Kasab in his confessional statement before the special court said a Pakistani army official of major-general rank had visited during the training organized by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the IANS news agency reported.

"He disclosed that he got a special pat from the major general for coming first in shooting training and told others who were not up to par to practise more," Nikam was quoted as saying by IANS after Friday's hearing in the case.

Earlier, Kasab had petitioned the court that he was a minor and, therefore, should be tried by a juvenile court. "I strongly objected and told the court that he was lying," said Nikam, pointing out that Kasab had described himself at 21 years of age at various events. The court dismissed the petition.

"Accused Kasab had disclosed that it was decided to target Mumbai with the aim of capturing Kashmir, so that the Indian government will become weak. Not just Mumbai, but other metropolitan cities were also planned to be attacked similarly," Nikam said.

Nikam added that Colonel Sadatullah of the Pakistan government's Special Communications Organisation had accessed email accounts opened by the terrorist group in the fictitious name of Kharak Singh.

"What information he wanted to access and why, is part of further investigation," Nikam said.

Indian police have filed an 11,000-page charge sheet against 38 people including Kasab. A total of 2,202 witnesses have been identified but it is not yet clear how many will be called to testify.

The charges allege key planners of the assaults included Pakistan-based LET leaders Hafeez Sayyid, Fahim Ansari, Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah. Those men are in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and have been listed as "wanted absconders."(dpa)