Who is Faisal Shahzad? کن ہے فیصل شہزاد؟

(Source) A Pakistani-born American man was arrested overnight in connection with Saturday’s attempted car bombing in New York City’s Times Square.

The man, identified as 30-year-old Faisal Shahzad, was taken into custody at 11:45 p.m. at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday while attempting to board a flight to Dubai. He will appear in federal court on Tuesday to face charges of“driving a car bomb into Times Square on the evening of May 1,” according to officials with the investigation.

Shahzad was born in Karachi, Pakistan’s financial capital, and later moved to the United States. He became naturalized as a U.S. citizen on April 17, 2009. Mr. Shahzad reportedly returned to Pakistan between July and August 2009, and traveled to Peshawar, a gateway town to areas where the Pakistan army and the Taliban are engaged in conflict.

Not much is known about Shahzad, although officials said some members of his family still reside in North Nazimabad, a middle class suburb of Karachi. The BBC is publishing unconfirmed reports that he is the son of retired Air Vice Marshal Bahar-ul-Haque, a former head of Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority.  The Associated Press reports that Shahzad recently returned from a five-month trip to Pakistan, where he may have a wife. According to Reuters, Shahzad received militant training in northwest Pakistan near the garrison town of Kohat, which is a stronghold of Tariq Afridi, the Pakistani Taliban commander in the region.

According to a Karachi security official, Pakistani police arrested several people Tuesday— including family members and a friend of Shahzad — in connection with the car bombing attempt.

Reuters reports that Shahzad was a financial analyst in the Norwalk, Connecticut, office of the Affinion Group, a marketing and consulting business. He worked there for about three years before leaving the company in June 2009. He reportedly received two degrees from the University of Bridgeport, Conn., a B.A. in 2000 in computer science and engineering, and an M.B.A. in 2005.

According to a former neighbour in Shelton, Ct., Shahzad and his wife,  Huma Mian, spoke limited English and kept to themselves. The couple had two young children, a boy and a girl. The neighbour, Brenda Thurman, 37, said that the family had lived at the house for about three years before moving out last year. Shahzad left the house first in May, and his wife followed about a month later. Mr. Shahzad left early every morning very nicely dressed and said that he worked on Wall Street, Thurman said. She told aConnecticut TV station:

“He was a bit strange. He didn’t like to come out during the day.”

Court documents reveal that Shahzad’s house entered foreclosure proceedings last September, reports CNN. As of December 14, the couple owed $207,837 to a mortgage company. A few weeks before leaving in July 2009, Shahzad’s wife told Thurman that the family was moving to Missouri.

The Guardian reports that the Shahzads left for Pakistan after losing their home. His family remained overseas when Shahzad returned to Bridgeport, Connecticut, in February, after having spent five months abroad.

Federal agents and police conducted a search early Tuesday morning of what appeared to be a multifamily house in Bridgeport, Connecticut, according to a witness at the scene. Several plastic bags were removed from the building.

Investigators believe that Mr. Shahzad recently bought the SUV, a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder, that was found in Times Square rigged with propane tanks, fertilizer and fireworks. A law enforcement source told CNN that the vehicle was sold three weeks ago using US$1,800 cash; no paperwork was exchanged. The transaction took place at a Connecticut shopping mall, where the buyer handed over the money and drove off, the source said. The seller, a college student in Bridgeport, is not a suspect.

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that it was “too early to say” whether it was a lone wolf or international terrorists behind the bombing attempt. According to Jim Cavanaugh, a former agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the bomber could have been “internationally inspired,” but the device showed little sign that a group like al Qaeda was behind it.

The Taliban in Pakistan said on Sunday it planted the bomb in Times Square to avenge the killing in April of al Qaeda’s two top leaders in Iraq as well as U.S. interference in Muslim countries, although some officials voiced scepticism about the claim. Rehman Malik, Pakitan’s Interior Minister, told Reuters, “We will cooperate with the United States in identifying this individual and bringing him to justice.”

Shahzad claims he was working alone. A source tells the AP: