MUMBAI, India — The lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks made a surprise confession at his trial Monday, saying he was recruited by a militant group inside Pakistan after he left a low-paying job and went looking for training to become a professional robber.

The confession by Ajmal Kasab bolstered India's charges that terrorist groups in neighboring Pakistan were behind the well-planned attack, and that it is not doing enough to clamp down on them. The attack in which 166 people died severely strained relations and put the brakes on a peace process between the nuclear-armed enemies.

"I was in front of Abu Ismail who had taken such a position that no one could see him," Kasab told the court. "We both fired, Abu Ismail and I. We fired on the public," he said, speaking in Hindi.

Kasab faces the death penalty if convicted on the charges of murder and waging war against the country.