Washington, May 9: The United States said Sunday it had 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 revealed that the Pakistani Taliban has the “aim” and “capability” to carry out attacks against the US.
“We’ve now developed evidence that shows 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.
Thirty-year-old Shahzad, son of a retired Pakistani air vice-marshal who became a naturalised US citizen, was arrested last Monday for trying to detonate the car bomb in New York.
     —PTI

Lalit K. Jha