Pak acknowledges failed Times Square bomber met Taliban chief

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has acknowledged that Pakistani-American, Faisal Shahzad, who pleaded guilty to a New York bomb plot, had met Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud.

Shahzad last month pleaded guilty in a New York court to the bomb bid, and warned of more attacks on the United States until it leaves Muslim lands.

“He visited Pakistan seven times and he met Hakimullah Mehsud and also met other people, those so-called leaders of the Taliban,” The Dawn quoted Rehman Malik, Pakistani Interior Minister, as saying.

The TTP is based in Pakistan’s tribal areas, and has been blamed for some of the deadliest suicide attacks in the country.

It has also claimed responsibility for the May 1 New York bomb plot.

Earlier, a video footage was released by Sky News, which shows Shahzad and Hakimullah shaking hands and hugging each other ’sometime’ before the botched Times Square bombing.

Shahzad is also heard warning the US in the video.

“Today, along with the leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Hakimullah Mehsud and under the command of Amir al-Mumineen Mullah Mohammed Omar Mujahid, may Allah protect him, we are planning to wage an attack on your side, inshallah,” Shahzad is heard, as saying.

The 40-minute tape, made months before his failed bomb attack in New York, showed Shahzad talking boldly about his planned martyrdom.

“This attack on the United States will be a revenge attack for all the mujahedeen who have been martyred,” he said.

After his confession in the federal court, Shahzad had said that he sought and received five days’ training in explosives before returning to the US in February to carry out the bomb plot with funding from the militant group.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 5 and faces life in prison. (ANI)