Investigations in Pakistan have uncovered possible links between Faisal Shahzad, 30, the Pakistani Taleban and a Kashmiri militant group, officials and news reports said.
“According to the available information he says it was his individual act,” Malik told Reuters in an interview during a visit to Beijing. “I would not tend to believe that.”
Pakistani security officials told Reuters that Shahzad, who is suspected of driving an explosives-laden SUV into Times Square on Saturday, was close to Jaish-e-Mohammad, a group fighting Indian forces in the disputed territory of Kashmir and which also has ties to Al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taleban.
“The people who have been picked up do have links to Jaish and have also been in touch with Shahzad during his visits here,” a Pakistani security official in Karachi told Reuters.
The official was referring to Mohammad Rehan, a friend of Shahzad, who was detained on Tuesday after leaving the Bat’ha Mosque in Karachi. Other associates, including Shahzad’s father-in-law, have also been detained in Karachi, according to CNN.
The mosque is said to have links to Jaish and neighbors tell of visits by its leaders.
US investigators are also taking a “hard look” at possible ties between Shahzad and the Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP), the Taleban Movement of Pakistan, a US official said Wednesday.
“It is a known fact that the mosque (in Karachi) has been a recruiting ground for Jaish and many people have been sent to the tribal areas (home to the TTP) for training,” a second Pakistani security official told Reuters.
The official said several men recruited through the mosque had fought against the military during recent offensives against the TTP.
“It may not be a surprise if the people associated with the mosque, or those who come here for recruitment, are linked with the TTP,” he said.
“TTP is entirely plausible but we’re not ruling out other groups,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
If confirmed that the Taleban in Pakistan sponsored the attempted bombing in New York, as it claimed over the weekend, it would be the group’s first attack on US soil.
The United States had asked Pakistan for help in investigating the failed bomb plot, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, and is preparing a detailed request for urgent and specific assistance to be presented by the end of the week.
Pakistan was ready to give them “every help, full support” to bring the culprits to justice, Malik said.
The United States has also asked to interview Shahzad’s parents, the Post reported, quoting a Pakistani official who said their whereabouts are still unknown.
Shahzad was arrested on Monday night after he was removed from an Emirates plane at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport that was about to depart for Dubai.
He had been on his way back to Pakistan.
Shahzad, who was born in Pakistan and became a US citizen last year, has been charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and trying to kill and maim people within the United States as well as other counts.
