Pak Taliban behind failed NY plot: US
PTI
WASHINGTON, MAY 9
US today said it has evidence that the Pakistani Taliban was behind last week’s failed attempt to detonate a car bomb at Times Square in New York and that terror suspect Faisal Shahzad was “working at their direction”.
The evidence has given new direction to the fight against terrorism, as investigations into the Times Square incident has revealed that the Pakistani Taliban has the “aim” and “capability” in carrying out attacks against the United States.
“We’ve now developed evidence that shows that the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attack,” US Attorney General Eric Holder told ABC television’s Sunday current affairs talk show “This Week.”
“We know that they (Pakistani Taliban) helped facilitate it. We know that they probably helped finance it, and that he (Shahzad) was working at their direction,” he said.
30-year-old Shahzad was arrested on Monday last for attempting to detonate the car bomb in New York.
The FBI has said that Shahzad, son of a former Pakistani Air Force officer, has admitted to attending a terrorist training camp in Pakistan’s restive Waziristan tribal region.
“I think the investigation is proceeding at a good pace. We have developed, I think, a good amount of information in a relatively short period of time, but we will be continuing to work on it,” Holder said.
US officials have been maintaining that Pakistani Taliban could be behind the failed attempt.
A video purportedly released by the Pakistani Taliban had claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the outfit rejected it immediately.
He said the Times Square incident has revealed that the Pakistani Taliban has both the aim and the capability to attack the US.
“I’m not sure that we didn’t think they had that ability. We didn’t think that necessarily was their aim. We certainly have seen with the Shahzad incident that they have not only the aim, but the capability of doing that.
And that’s why they have taken on, I think, a new significance in our anti-terror fight,” he said.
President Barack Obama’s Homeland and Counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan also said US authorities believe that the Pakistani Taliban was behind the failed attempt.
