Suspect's Ties to Pakistan Taliban Probed

By ZAHID HUSSAIN and TOM WRIGHT in Islamabad and KEITH JOHNSON in Washington

Reuters

A boy peers through the main gate of the ancestral home of the family of Faisal Shahzad, the suspect in the Times Square bombing case, on Wednesday. The family lives in Mohib Banda in northwestern Pakistan.

U.S. and Pakistani investigators are giving increased credence to links between Times Square bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad and the Pakistan Taliban, with one senior Pakistani official saying Mr. Shahzad received instruction from the Islamist group's suicide-bomb trainer.

If the links are verified, it would mark a stark shift in how the Pakistan Taliban—an affiliate of the Taliban in Afghanistan—and related jihadist groups in Pakistan pursue their goals. Until now, they have focused on attacks within Pakistan and in India, not the U.S.

For the past several months, Pakistan's military has waged a battle against the Pakistan Taliban and a related group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, in the Pakistani tribal region of South Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan. The Pakistan Taliban's leadership has been heavily targeted by missile strikes from Central Intelligence Agency pilotless drones.

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Relatives and friends stood outside Mr. Shahzad's family's Peshawar residence Wednesday.

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. The 30-year-old 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."

Mr. Hussain claimed responsibility for the attempted attack in a weekend audio message. His message followed a video of Mr. Mehsud, the Pakistan Taliban leader, in which he warned of a wave of attacks on the U.S. "Our fighters are already in the United States," Mr. Mehsud said.

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.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told CBS on Wednesday the attack could be retaliation for CIA drone strikes against the Pakistan Taliban. "This is retaliation. And you could expect that," he said. "They're going to fight back."

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But Pakistan's chief military spokesman, Gen. Athar Abbas, said the Pakistan Taliban was focused on fighting the Pakistan military and did not have the capacity to strike in the U.S. "The Pakistan Taliban is an organization with a local agenda," Gen. Abbas said. "It's too far-fetched to say [it] can project itself in countries so fa