न्यूयॉर्क

न्यूयॉर्क शहरातील टाईम्स स्क्वेअरमध्‍ये ठेवण्‍यात आलेल्‍या कार बॉम्बचा स्फोट करण्‍याचा प्रयत्न केल्‍याचा आरोप पाकिस्तानी वंशाच्‍या अमेरीकन नागरीक फैसल शहजादवर निश्चित करण्‍यात आला असून त्‍याने आपला गुन्‍हा कबुल केला आहे. तर पाकिस्तानातील त्याच्‍याशी संबंधितांना अटक करून त्यांची चौकशी केली जात आहे.


या संदर्भातील माहितीनुसार पाकिस्तानच्‍या ताब्यात असलेल्‍या काश्मीरमधील रहिवासी असलेला फैसल शहजाद याने टाईम्‍स स्‍क्वेअर स्‍फोटाची जबाबदारी स्‍वीकारली असून त्‍याने दिलेल्‍या कबुली जबाबात पाकिस्तानच्‍या वजीरिस्तान भागातून त्याने बॉम्ब बनविण्‍याचे प्रशिक्षण घेतले होते.

या घटनेत तो एकटाच सहभागी असल्‍याचे फैसलचे म्हणणे असून त्‍यावर अमेरीकन अधिका-यांनी विश्‍वास ठेवण्‍यास नकार दिला आहे. या घटनेनंतर पाकमधील फैसलशी संबंधित लोकांना अटक करण्‍यात आली असून त्यांचीही कसून चौकशी केली जात आहे.

New York

A man accused of trying to detonate a car bomb in Times Square spent a decade on the path to respectability before abandoning his house in Connecticut and deciding to supplement his business degrees with explosives training in Pakistan, authorities say.

Faisal Shahzad, the 30-year-old son of a retired official in Pakistan's air force, was charged Tuesday with trying to blow up a crude gasoline and propane device inside a parked SUV amid tourists and Broadway theatergoers. He was in custody after being hauled off a Dubai-bound plane he boarded Monday night at John F. Kennedy International Airport despite being under surveillance and placed on the federal no-fly list.

Passengers disembarking from the flight many hours later described a calm scene as he was removed from the plane. They said he didn't put up a struggle.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Shahzad had been providing valuable information to investigators as they sought to determine the scope of the plot to blow up the SUV last Saturday night in the heart of Times Square near bustling restaurants and a theater showing "The Lion King."

"Based on what we know so far, it is clear that this was a terrorist plot aimed at murdering Americans in one of the busiest places in our country," Holder said.


A court hearing was canceled Tuesday in part because of Shahzad's continuing cooperation with investigators, but authorities said they had shed little light on what might have motivated him.

Until recently, his life in the U.S. appeared enviable. He had a master's degree from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, a job as a budget analyst for a marketing firm in Norwalk, Conn., two children and a well-educated wife who posted his smiling picture and lovingly called him "my everything" on a social networking website.

But shortly after becoming a U.S. citizen a year ago, he gave up his job, stopped paying his mortgage and told a real estate agent to let the bank take the house because he was returning to Pakistan.

Once there, according to investigators, he traveled to the lawless Waziristan region and learned bomb making at a terrorist training camp.

In court papers, investigators said Shahzad returned to the U.S. on Feb. 3, moved into an apartment in a low-rent section of Bridgeport, then set about acquiring materials and an SUV he bought with cash in late April. They said that after his arrest, Shahzad confessed to rigging the bomb and driving it into Times Square. He also acknowledged getting training in Pakistan, the filing said.

The investigation of the fizzled bomb attack unfolded quickly, with a suspect in custody in only 53 hours — but it didn't go off without a hitch.

After identifying Shahzad through the previous owner of the SUV, investigators had him under surveillance when he nearly slipped away.

Authorities initially planned to arrest him at his Connecticut home but lost track of him, two people familiar with the probe told The Associated Press. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to talk publicly about the breach in surveillance.

Emirates airlines also didn't initially notice when Shahzad purchased a ticket that he had been placed on the government's no-fly list, according to a law enforcement official. U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano credited customs officials with recognizing Shahzad's name on a passenger manifest and stopping the flight. Agents apprehended him on the plane.

Passengers said the arrest was made quietly. First-class passenger Samir al-Ammari, a Saudi who was in the U.S. on a business trip, said he saw security surround the suspect.

"Honestly, I was worried," he said. "I was planning to cancel the flight and get another one."

Several passengers said the revelation there was a link to the failed Times Square bombing didn't cause a panic.

"There was no commotion, no general alarm or concern," said Robert Woodward, of Boulder, Colo.

A gun was discovered in the car Shahzad left at the airport, investigators said.

Kifyat Ali, a cousin of Shahzad's father, spoke with reporters outside a two-story home the family owns in an upscale part of Peshawar, Pakistan. He said the family had yet to be officially informed of Shahzad's arrest, which he called "a conspiracy so the (Americans) can bomb more Pashtuns," a reference to a major ethnic group in Peshawar and the nearby tribal areas of Pakistan and southwest Afghanistan.