New York: Faisal Shahzad, the man who tried to bomb New York's Time Square, has revealed an entire web of terror in his questioning with US federal agencies.
The 30-year-old Wall Street analyst, who was arrested minutes before his flight to Dubai and Islamabad took off, has admitted to receiving terror training in Pakistan.
The recording of the conversation between the Air Traffic Control and the pilot shows that the authorities were lucky by just a few minutes.
The conversation:
Control Tower Operator (no name): Emirates 202 actually I have for you to go back to the gate immediately, so make the left turn when able.
Emirates pilot (no name): 202 turning left here.
Control Tower Operator: Hi Emirates 202 make the left turn on to echo, left alpha back to the ramp. I don't know exactly why, but you can call your company for the reason.
Some of the passengers recalled Shahzad being taken off the plane.
"When we got out of the aircraft I saw three people with different security, and I figured out that the problem is within these people," said a passenger.
"There were policemen around the gate, it was somewhat friendly. They escorted them on the plane and then that's all I saw of that. And then we heard later they were taking someone off the plane for security reasons," another passenger said.
Shahzad has reportedly told the FBI that he acted alone, but his motives are not clear. The FBI suspects he could be the Taliban's first footsoldier in America based on whatever information they have gathered from him so far.
He was trained in bomb making in Pakistan's Waziristan, a video of Hakimullah Mehsud initially claimed responsibility for Shahzad's action and the phone calls from Pakistan before he drove his bomb laden vehicle to Times Square all point to the Taliban
In Pakistan police have reportedly detained up seven people all of whom are his friends and relatives from Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Karachi. But in his hometown Pabbi near Peshawar his friend appeared shocked.
"He was religious. But it doesn't make you terrorist. He has no connection with militants while he was in Pakistan. I don't know what happened in US," said a friend Nasir Khan.
Pakistan has, meanwhile, promised full cooperation in the investigators to US authorities.
"We will co-operate with the US in all possible ways," said Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
The investigation in the US is expected to pick up in the days ahead, but the answers may well lie in Pakistan.
Where did Shahzad's inspiration come and who trained him? But more important is Shahzad is the Taliban's first footsoldier in America, imbued with an American education and seemingly American values, but consumed within by the Taliban hatred for America.
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