KARACHI (Source) -- The Pakistani-American accused of a failed plot to bomb New York's Times Square could have links to both the Pakistani Taliban and a Kashmiri Islamist group, officials and news reports said on Thursday.
The United States has asked Pakistan for help in investigating the failed bomb plot, The Washington Post reported, and is preparing a detailed request for urgent and specific assistance to be presented by the end of the week.
Pakistani security officials told Reuters that Faisal Shahzad, 30, who allegedly drove an explosive-laden SUV into Times Square on Saturday, was close to Jaish-e-Muhammad, a group fighting Indian forces in the disputed territory of Kashmir and which also has ties to al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban.
"The people who have been picked up do have links to Jaish and have also been in touch with Shahzad during his visits here," a Pakistani security official in Karachi told Reuters.
The official was referring to Mohammad Rehan, a friend of Mr. Shahzad, who was detained on Tuesday after leaving the Bat'ha Mosque in Karachi. Other associates, including Mr. Shahzad's father-in-law, have also been detained in Karachi, according to CNN.
The mosque is said to have links to Jaish and neighbours tell of visits by its leaders.
U.S. investigators are also taking a "hard look" at possible ties between Shahzad and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Taliban Movement of Pakistan, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
"It is a known fact that the mosque (in Karachi) has been a recruiting ground for Jaish and many people have been sent to the tribal areas (home to the TTP) for training," a second Pakistani security official told Reuters.
The official said several men recruited through the mosque had fought against the military during recent offensives against the TTP.
"It may not be a surprise if the people associated with the mosque, or those who come here for recruitment, are linked with the TTP," he said.
The U.S. official agreed.
"TTP is entirely plausible but we're not ruling out other groups," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
If confirmed that the Taliban in Pakistan sponsored the attempted bombing in New York, as it claimed over the weekend, it would be the group's first attack on U.S. soil.
The United States has also asked to interview Mr. Shahzad's parents, The Post reported, quoting a Pakistani official who said their whereabouts are still unknown.
Mr. Shahzad's family packed belongings from their Peshawar home on Tuesday night and disappeared, neighbours said.
Mr. Shahzad, who U.S. prosecutors say admitted driving a car bomb into Times Square, waived his right to an initial court appearance on Wednesday to keep talking to investigators, sources said.
He was arrested on Monday night after he was removed from an Emirates plane at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport that was about to depart for Dubai. He had been on his way back to Pakistan.
Mr. Shahzad, who was born in Pakistan and became a U.S. citizen last year, has been charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and trying to kill and maim people within the United States as well as other counts.
U.S. prosecutors said Mr. Shahzad, the son of a retired Pakistani vice air marshal, had admitted to receiving bomb-making training in a Taliban and al Qaeda stronghold in Pakistan. A law enforcement source said investigators believed the Pakistani Taliban financed that training.
Mr. Shahzad waived his right to an initial court appearance within 48 hours of his arrest and other U.S. constitutional rights, a U.S. official and sources said. He faces life in prison if convicted of the charges against him, unless he negotiates a lesser sentence in exchange for cooperation.
"(Shahzad) was giving them intricate details as to what he did overseas," said a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation. "There was a determination that there wasn't anyone else in the (New York) area to target."
Mr. Shahzad bought a ticket with cash and boarded the plane even though he had been placed on a U.S. "no-fly" list earlier that day. On Wednesday, the Obama administration ordered airlines to step up their efforts to prevent people on the list from boarding flights.
إرسال تعليق
Thank you for your valuable comments and opinion. Please have your comment on this post below.