THE PAKISTANI investigation into Faisal Shahzad, the confessed Times Square bomber, has revealed a network of links to Islamist groups and the Taliban, Pakistani officials signalled yesterday.
The development, in a case that has once again brought the country under scrutiny over Islamist militants, came as the US tightened rules on its “no-fly” list in the wake of Mr Shahzad’s attempt to leave the country.
A senior Pakistani intelligence official said: “It is this kind of link between Faisal Shahzad and where his trail led eventually that we are most interested in.”
The five-count criminal complaint filed in the southern district of New York says Mr Shahzad not only admitted bringing a car to Times Square intending to detonate explosive materials but also “stated that he had recently received bomb-making training in Waziristan, Pakistan”.
In the event, his homemade devices did not go off.
Yesterday, a Pakistani police officer in Karachi confirmed the arrest of Mohammad Rehan, a militant who was being questioned about facilitating Mr Shahzad’s travel back to Pakistan on at least one occasion in the past 18 months, when the Pakistani-born US citizen visited the northwest frontier area of the country.
Mr Rehan is connected to the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group, which has a history of sending militants to Afghanistan and India’s predominantly Muslim Kashmir region.
Pakistani officials were also looking into links between Mr Rehan and Qari Hussain, a Taliban militant from North Waziristan.
Another focus is Mr Shahzad’s family background: he is the son of a Pakistani air force retired air vice-marshal who served as a fighter pilot, while his uncle is a retired major general of the Pakistani army.
Such ties – and Mr Shahzad’s history as a naturalised US citizen who held white-collar jobs in Connecticut – contrast with the typical image of Taliban militants.
They also draw attention to the role of the Pakistani security services, which in the past cultivated ties with the Afghan Taliban but have recently stepped up operations against domestic Taliban insurgents.
One recent push was focused on South Waziristan. The US has lobbied Pakistan to take steps in neighbouring North Waziristan, and may well now intensify its efforts.
A Pakistani security official said: “As far as I know, this young man was angry because of the drones [used by the CIA to strike targets in Pakistan] and he decided to vent his anger.”
The official said Mr Shahzad appeared to have built up links with terrorist groups. “You can’t attain this kind of expertise, even if there was a botch-up, if you are just a novice,” the official said.
“We are looking at all possibilities and looking at all leads.”
In the US yesterday, attention focused on Mr Shahzad’s success in boarding a flight to Dubai even though he had been put on the country’s official no-fly list and was the subject of a manhunt.
He was arrested after the aircraft left the gate but before it took off.
The US Transportation Security Administration announced yesterday that in future all airlines would have to check their manifests within two hours of a change to the no-fly list.
Republican congressman Pete Hoekstra said the US had avoided a terrorist attack because of luck.
“It wasn’t foiled by our law enforcement or by our intelligence community,” he said.
“It was foiled because it appears that whatever training he got in Waziristan wasn’t very good.”