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Today's Fizzle Bomber Round-up
NY bomb suspect 'met Taliban explosives expert'(AKI) - Pakistani investigators believe Faisal Shahzad learned about explosives from a senior Taliban expert at a training camp in Pakistan. Mohammad Rehan, one of eight people arrested in Pakistan late Tuesday, is accused of introducing Shahzad to militants gave him lessons in handling explosives. According to security sources Rehan was arrested in the Pakistani southern port city of Karachi. He is suspected of taking Shahzad to the northern city of Peshawar and then to North Waziristan, which is now a Taliban stronghold. Officials believe Shahzad, a Karachi-born Pushtun, had no relationship with any militant organisation until Rehan put him in contact with Qari Hussain Mehsud, the chief of the Pakistani Taliban's suicide squad and explosives expert. Mehsud is believed to have provided training to Shahzad on improvised explosives on a recent visit to Pakistan. Officials from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence have detained Tauseef Ahmed, a friend with whom Shahzad stayed on his last trip to Karachi, and Shahzad's father-in-law Iftikhar Mian. Father of fizzle bomber questioned (AKI) - US and Pakistani investigators are reported to have interviewed the father of Times Square car bombing suspect and four others linked to a notorious Pakistani militant group, intelligence officials told the American cable network, CNN, on Thursday. Bahar Ulhaq, a retired senior Pakistani air force officer, was questioned by senior investigators in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. He is the father of Faisal Shahzad, the 30-year-old Pakistani-American suspect, in the failed car bomb attack in Times Square on Saturday. Ulhaq, who lives in the Peshawar suburb of Hayatabad, was not detained or arrested, a source told CNN. Another official said the team was questioning four men suspected of having links to the banned militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed. Fizzle Bomber's Ties to Pakistan Taliban Probed
If the links are verified, it would mark a stark shift in how the Pakistan Talibanan affiliate of the Taliban in Afghanistanand related jihadist groups in Pakistan pursue their goals. Until now, they have focused on attacks within Pakistan and in India, not the U.S.
Pakistani investigators also are probing Mr. Shahzad's possible connections with Jaish-e-Muhammad, an outlawed Islamist militant group, after the arrest Tuesday of Tohaid Ahmed and Mohammed Rehan in Karachi. A senior Pakistani government official said the two men were believed to have links to Jaish. Mr. Ahmed had been in email contact with Mr. Shahzad; Mr. Rehan took Mr. Shahzad to South Waziristan, the official said. There, Mr. Shahzad received training in explosives in a camp run by Qari Hussain, the official said. Mr. Hussain is a senior commander with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Pakistan Taliban's formal name, and trains suicide bombers, the official said. Mr. Hussain is also a cousin of Hakimullah Mehsud, the Pakistan Taliban's chief. Mr. Shahzad has admitted to investigators that he received training from militants in Waziristan, U.S. officials said. After several trips to Pakistan, Mr. Shahzad came back to the U.S. with significant amounts of declared cash, law enforcement officials said. "That's not that unusual, for immigrants to move with lots of cash," he said. "There just wasn't anything in his [immigration file] that raised any red flags." U.S. and British intelligence officials estimate that about 100 Westerners have in recent years taken advantage of lengthy trips to the region to complete training at jihadi camps in Pakistan and returned to their home countries, according to Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University. That figure includes Najibullah Zazi and David Headley, who recently pleaded guilty in the U.S. in terror cases, and numerous British terror plotters. It also includes Mr. Shahzad, who told border officials in February 2010, upon returning to New York City, that he had been visiting his ailing father in Pakistan. The size of American and British populations of Pakistani descent is so large that it makes detailed scrutiny of travel overseas difficult. There are more than 200,000 Pakistani-Americans, and more than 400,000 Britons of Pakistani heritage. Other countries with smaller diasporas in the U.S. do draw close attention. Americans traveling to Yemen, a hotbed of al Qaeda activities, receive close scrutiny upon return. Last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a program out of its Minneapolis field office to keep an eye on American Somalis traveling to their homeland. Before Mr. Shahzad's capture, U.S. officials gave little credence to the claims of Taliban involvement, but investigators are now probing the possible connection. "Pakistani Taliban links to the Times Square incident are entirely plausible," said one U.S. counterterrorism official. Family relative Kifayat Ali Khan, a lawyer, said Mr. Shahzad had spent little time in the village, because he studied in various educational institutions, including a Pakistan Air Force college in Peshawar, the main city in northwestern Pakistan.
One thing that puzzles U.S. terrorism experts: the lack of sophistication in the planned attack, considering Mr. Hussain's reputed expertise and emphasis on suicide bombs. One theory is that Mr. Shahzad may not have been fully embraced or fully trained by the Pakistan Taliban, who may have been suspicious of a U.S. citizen seeking training. "They may not have shown him all their tricks, but just set him loose. If he pulls off an attack, great, they got a 'freebie,' and if not, no harm done," said Brian Fishman, a terrorism analyst at the New America Foundation in Washington, a think tank that focuses on security issues. Others speculated that the attempted attack might have been a personal play by Mr. Mehsud, the Taliban leader, to avenge U.S. drone strikes, bolster his own embattled leadership credentials and regain popular support for a terrorist group that has angered many Pakistanis with its urban attacks. "The one thing that does get you support in Pakistan is action against America and American policiesthat would be a boost for his standing," said Richard Barrett, coordinator of the United Nations al Qaeda/Taliban Monitoring Team. Posted by: 2010-05-06 |
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