WEDNESDAY,MAY 5, 2010

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THE TIMES SQUARE BOMB

In wake of arrest, focus again on Pakistan’s terror camps

U.S. expected to lean on Islamabad to intensify efforts against militants

by Karin Brulliard

islamabad, pakistan — The

arrest of a Pakistani American in connection with the failed Times Square bombing again put a spotlight on Pakistan as a global terrorist training hub, raising the prospect of intensified U.S. pres- sure to break up militant net- works. In court documents, U.S. au- thorities said Tuesday that Faisal Shahzad, 30, admitted to having undergone bomb-making train- ing in Waziristan, a remote tribal

region that hugs Pakistan’s bor- der with Afghanistan. If this proves true, Shahzad would join a growing list of extremists who have trained with militants in Pakistan before attempting at- tacks in the West, including the plotters of deadly subway bomb- ings in London in 2005 and a similar plan that fizzled in New York. That pattern, now punctuated by the close call in Times Square, is likely to prompt U.S. officials to lean on Pakistan to deepen its fight against Islamist extremists, particularly in the militant hot- bed of North Waziristan. But this is a particularly sensitive period in bilateral relations with Paki- stan, a U.S. ally that the Obama administration considers key to success in Afghanistan.

“He was a very pleasant, quiet guy.”

— Frank DelVecchio, real estate agent

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Bomb suspect abruptly left life in United States

suspect from A1

bomb-making training in Paki- stan, assemble such an unsophis- ticated and unsuccessful device? But the most elusive question about Shahzad — a man with no known history of violence or con- nection to militant Islam — is the same one that often surfaces in terrorism plots: Why? “To me, they were regular peo-

ple,” said a former neighbor, Mary Ann Galich, 55, who watched the Shahzad family in the summer host barbecues on the back deck or splash in a kid- die pool. Shahzad’s wife, Huma Mian,

often wore a veil and a robe, as did the family’s female friends, Galich said. Shahzad wore suits or casual American standards such as khakis. “They didn’t really associate” with others in the neighborhood, Galich said, offering the familiar refrain of those who learn they have been living next to someone accused of plotting violence. “I’m shocked. I’m totally shocked.” In photos on social network-

ing Web sites, Shahzad gazes at the camera with a trimmed beard and tight-lipped smile. In one, he wears a tan blazer and poses in front of a gothic ca- thedral — presumably in New York City — embracing his wife. Huma Mian wears a scarf and jeans in the photo, her tight curls uncovered. Her whereabouts are unclear now, amid reports that she and the children are in Paki- stan. She used to update her Facebook account frequently. Under “activities,” she lists the laments of a young mother: “changing diapers, feeding milk, wiping drools, being sleep de- prived.”

Shahzad, 30, was born in Paki- stan. A senior Pakistani official said that he is from Pabbi, the main town of the Nowshera dis- trict in the northwest, near Pe- shawar, a city at the edge of the tribal region where al-Qaeda and other militant groups now hide. At the family house in the vil-

lage of Mohib Banda, two men identified themselves Tuesday as Shahzad’s cousins and said that his father, a retired vice air mar- shal named Bahar ul-Haq, now lives in Peshawar.

One cousin, Sari ul-Haq, said Shahzad visited the village about six months ago for a wedding and came without his children or wife. “He is a simple man,” Haq said. “He has no connections with any militant groups.” Authorities allege otherwise. A criminal complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York indicates that Shahzad has admitted that he tried to det- onate a bomb in Times Square and that “he had recently re- ceived bomb-making training in Waziristan.” U.S. officials said the initial phase of their investigation is fo- cused on whether Shahzad was trained by a specific group in Pa- kistan — including the Pakistani Taliban, which has claimed cred- it for the attempted attack — and

whether he is aware of other plots. The probe may turn to less pressing questions, including why Shahzad uprooted his fami- ly suddenly and returned to Paki- stan.

Shahzad had been in the Unit-

ed States since shortly after re- ceiving a student visa at age 19, according to immigration rec- ords, which indicate “no deroga- tory information” in his file. He received a bachelor’s de- gree in computer science from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut in 2000 and a mas- ter’s degree in business adminis- tration from the same school in 2005. An official there said that Shahzad had transferred to the school with “a little under two years’ worth of credit” from Southeastern University, a now- defunct school in Washington. “He didn’t leave much of an impression; he was part of that great mass of students who fall between the good and the bad,” said Ward Thrasher, director of the MBA program, who de- scribed Shahzad as an “unre- markable, adequate” student. Shahzad landed a job at Affi- nion Group, a Connecticut-based marketing company. He spent three years as a financial analyst, a job that typically pays about $50,000, before leaving in June. “He left on his own, quit for his own reasons,” said James Hart, a company spokesman. Along the way, Shahzad and his wife had bought a gray two- story house for $273,000 and tried to sell it in 2008. But the market had slumped and there were no takers, said Frank Del- Vecchio, the real estate agent who listed the house. “He was a very pleasant, quiet

guy,” DelVecchio said, adding that he received an e-mail from Shahzad acknowledging that the couple had defaulted on their $200,000 mortgage. If Shahzad was a fervent follower of Islam, it wasn’t evident in Bridgeport. “I’ve never seen him,” said Sheik Hasan Abu-Mar, the imam at the main mosque in town. Other worshipers there Tuesday said the same. Whatever his motivation, Shahzad said goodbye to his life in America and returned to Paki- stan. When the family moved out, “it looked like they dropped everything and just left,” said Devon Reid, a 17-year-old neigh- bor. He and his sister said the family removed big furniture but left behind clothes, shoes, books and items such as lotion and baby food. After returning to the United

States in February, Shahzad made no attempt to reclaim those items or any part of his for- mer life. His behavior at times seemed erratic, but authorities say his objective was singular and clear.

On April 16, Shahzad activated

a prepaid cellphone, one that would expire within two weeks, the complaint says. He used the phone to respond to an online ad for a Nissan Pathfinder and ar-

Pakistan has chafed at past American exhortations to hit harder against militants on its soil, saying that it has paid a heavy price for its efforts against extremist groups — in terms of lives and money. U.S. officials, seeking to improve relations, have more recently lavished praise on Pakistan for its military offensives in the tribal areas and arrests of top Afghan Taliban leaders.

Over the past year, Pakistan’s

military has challenged its homegrown militants with un- precedented force, and it has boosted its image by pushing the Taliban out of the Swat Valley and South Waziristan. But its boasts of having crippled the in- surgency have been contradicted by intermittent attacks and,

more recently, by the reemer- gence of a Taliban chief thought to be dead. Still, Pakistan has resisted U.S. pressure to take on insurgents in North Waziristan or in Punjab province, an area that is at the heart of Pakistan but is also the base of militant groups such as Lashkar-i-Taiba, suspected in the 2008 attacks in Mumbai. Shahzad told investigators

that he trained in Waziristan, court documents show. They did not indicate whether he meant South Waziristan, the Pakistani Taliban’s former hub, or North Waziristan, where the group’s leaders are thought to be currently based, along with Af- ghan Taliban and al-Qaeda fight- ers.

On Tuesday, intelligence offi-

cials in Pakistan said they had ar- rested at least two people in con- nection with the Times Square case in the southern metropolis of Karachi, where Shahzad had family ties and where militant organizations are known to raise funds and hide. Pakistani gov- ernment officials said they would cooperate with the U.S. investiga- tion. News of the bombing suspect’s ties to Pakistan was met with questions about whether the country was being unfairly maligned and fears that Paki- stanis would face discrimination in the United States, additional screening at airports and global media scorn.

“Somehow or another, there is

always a Pakistani connection,” an intelligence official said.

Shahzad’s arrest followed the release of new videos featuring Pakistani Taliban leader Haki- mullah Mehsud. U.S. and Pakistani officials had thought that Mehsud was killed in a drone strike in January. In videos circulated online this week, Mehsud is shown pledging that his organization would strike in U.S. cities. U.S. investigators are examin- ing whether Shahzad had links to the Pakistani Taliban, a group that has sustained a campaign of suicide blasts and assassinations against Pakistani government targets.

brulliardk@washpost.com

Special correspondent Shaiq Hussain contributed to this report.

JESSICA HILL/ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRIDGEPORT, CONN.:

Law enforcement officials search an apartment building where Faisal Shahzad lived.

SHELTON, CONN.:

A neighbor said the Shahzad family removed big

furniture when they moved out of their house but left behind clothes, shoes, books and items such as lotion and baby food.

DANIEL BARRY/GETTY IMAGES

ranged to meet the seller in a su- permarket parking lot. After tak- ing it for a test drive April 24, he bought it in a transaction with no paper record, handing over 13

Contributors

Staff writers William Branigin, Matt DeLong, Karen DeYoung, Garance Franke-Ruta, Jason Horowitz, Sari Horwitz, Spencer S. Hsu, Paul Kane, Anne E. Kornblut, Jerry Markon, Greg Miller, Shailagh Murray, Ellen Nakashima, Michael D. Shear, R.

Jeffrey Smith, Karen Tumulty, Joby Warrick and Debbi Wilgoren in Washington, Peter Finn and Mary Beth Sheridan in Connecticut and Keith B. Richburg in New York, correspondent Karin Brulliard and special correspondent Shaiq

Hussain in Islamabad, special correspondent Haq Nawaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, and research director Alice Crites and staff researcher Julie Tate in Washington contributed to coverage of the Times Square threat.

$100 bills. A few days later, Shahzad called the seller to ask how long it had been since the vehicle’s last oil change, an odd question

for someone accused of buying the vehicle to blow it up. He also had the windows tinted, which made it harder to peer inside. Other phone calls were made to

Pakistan and to a fireworks deal- er in Pennsylvania. Exactly one week after the

Pathfinder was purchased, it was parked in Times Square, packed with three propane tanks, two canisters of gasoline, 152 M-88 fireworks and two alarm clocks. Three keys, including one to Shahzad’s apartment, were in the vehicle. It was left emitting a trail of smoke.

millergreg@washpost.com sheridanm@washpost.com

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