Kasab, a 25-year-old Pakistani national, was hanged at 7.30am on Wednesday at Yerawada jail in Pune, after a plea for clemency was rejected by India's President, Pranab Mukherjee.

On November 26, 2008, four years ago next Monday, Kasab was one of 10 Pakistani terrorists who sailed into Mumbai, armed with Kalashnikov rifles, grenades and handmade bombs, and launched 10 co-ordinated bombing and shooting attacks. They laid siege to the city, including landmarks such as the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, for more than 60 hours, killing 166 people.

Kasab was taken from his cell on Wednesday morning to the jail gallows. He was asked if he had ''any final desires'', but said he did not. He was hanged at 7.30am and buried two hours later in the grounds of the jail.

''The entire process was executed very secretly. Pakistan has been informed but there is no demand for Kasab's body,'' the home minister, Sushil Shinde, said. Kasab was convicted of 86 offences, including waging war against India.

After his execution, Mumbai dhabawallahs, who deliver home-cooked lunches to office workers, burnt his picture in celebration and set off fireworks.

Members of Hindu nationalist organisation Shiv Sena held an impromptu celebration outside the Pune jail, chanting ''vande mataram'', ''hail the motherland''.

''Kasab's hanging is a tribute to all the 166 people killed as well as those police officers martyred in the attack,'' the Maharashtra home minister, R.R.Patil, said.

But Kasab was also a valuable source of information about the attack, which included months of indoctrination and weapons training at Lashkar-e-Taiba bases across Pakistan; a painstaking process to select 10 men to carry out the assault, and details of their amphetamine-fuelled rampage across the city.

When it rejected his appeal against his death sentence, the Supreme Court said Kasab showed no remorse, and considered himself ''a hero and a patriotic Pakistani at war''.