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Pakistan Taliban Denies Shahzad Connection
By
Jen Chung
Published May 6, 2010
Modified May 6, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 6, 2010
Modified May 6, 2010
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While the government believes that Times Square car bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad was trained and inspired by the Pakistan Taliban, the group's spokesman denied any link, telling CBS News, "This is a noble job and we pray that all the Muslim youths should follow Faisal Shahzad. But he is not part of our network," adding that the plot was "hatched by the U.S. and its allies to trap Muslim and Pushtun youth in terrorist activities" and promised to "launch attacks against the U.S. and its allies with a new zeal and style The U.S. and its European allies are our target."
In the meantime, there are more details about Shahzad's plan. The 30-year-old Pakistani man, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen last year, apparently conducted a test run of the car bomb drop off: The NY Post explains, "The night before leaving an SUV containing a homemade bomb in Times Square, admitted terrorist Faisal Shahzad did a dry run for his fiendish plot and dropped off a getaway car nearby... But the 'idiot' bomber was unable to use that vehicle — a white Isuzu — because he had accidentally left the keys behind in the smoldering 1993 Nissan Pathfinder after parking it on West 45th Street with the bomb, a law-enforcement source said. Shahzad instead was forced to take a Metro-North train home to Connecticut that night."
A source said, "Times Square was his target. The first spot he saw where he could park the car, he happens to see on 45th Street and that’s where he leaves it." He returned on Sunday to get the Isuzu Trooper. Shahzad was eventually tracked down through the Nissan Pathfinder SUV's vehicle identification number, found by a veteran NYPD detective, and his cellphone number: Even though Shahzad used a prepaid cellphone number (which was given to the authorities by the woman who sold him the Isuzu), Shahzad left it as his contact number when re-entering the country earlier this year.
The NY Times has a look at Shahzad's evolution in recent years, "People who knew [him and his wife], both in Connecticut and in Pakistan, said he had changed in the past year or so, becoming more reserved and more religious as he faced what someone who knows the family well called 'their financial troubles.'" The couple's house went into foreclosure and a friend said that he started discussing Islam more, "The recession had taken a toll on them, I guess."
Tagged
car bomb
connecticut
explosion
faisal shahzad
Pakistan
taliban
terror
Times Square
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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