HS: Times Squaren pommi-iskuyrityksestä epäilty otettu kiinni

[skrabb]

Times Squaren pommi-iskuyrityksestä epäilty otettu kiinni
4.5.2010 7:26 | Päivitetty: 4.5.2010 7:51
A A AP–REUTERS–HS

New Yorkin epäonnistuneessa autopommi-iskusta epäilty mies on otettu kiinni, kertovat yhdysvaltalaisviranomaiset.

The New York Times -lehden mukaan mies otettiin kiinni lentokentältä, kun tämä yritti poistua maasta.

The New York Times -lehden mukaan pakistanilaissyntyisen, yhdysvaltain kansalaisuuden saaneen miehen uskotaan olevan auton ostaja.

Mies on lehden mukaan palannut hiljattain matkalta Pakistanista. Auton hän osti käteisellä ja ilman papereita viimeisten kolmen viikon aikana.

New Yorkin Times Squaren alueelta löytyi lauantaina poksahteleva ja savuava katumaasturi. Autossa oli alkeellinen pommi, joka ei räjähtänyt. Alue evakuoitiin 10 tunniksi.

http://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/artikkeli/Times+Squaren+pommi-iskuyrityksest%C3%A4+ep%C3%A4ilty+otettu+kiinni/1135256572158

[skrabb]

Kuolleeksi luultu terroristijohtaja uhkasi Yhdysvaltoja iskuilla
"Pääkohteina ovat amerikkalaiset kaupungit."
Reuters–AP

Terroristijohtaja Hakimullah Mehsud kehotti yhdeksänminuuttisessa videossaan uskonsotureita valmistautumaan hyökkäämään Yhdysvaltoihin.

Islamabad/Kabul. Pakistanin Taleban-liikkeen johtajana pidetty Hakimullah Mehsud uhkasi maanantaina Yhdysvaltoja useilla terrori-iskuilla.

"Tästä lähtien pääkohteina ovat amerikkalaiset kaupungit. Hyviä uutisia kuullaan muutaman päivän tai muutaman viikon kuluessa", Mehsud julisti nettivideossaan.

Terroristien verkkosivuja seuraavan Site-tutkimuslaitoksen mukaan video on tehty huhtikuun 4. päivänä.

Yhdysvaltain viranomaiset ovat aiemmin pitäneet lähes varmana, että Mehsud olisi kuollut ohjusiskussa Pakistanissa tammikuussa.

Pakistanin Taleban ilmoitti sunnuntai-iltana asentaneensa autopommin, joka löytyi viikonvaihteessa New Yorkin Times Squarelta. Yhdysvaltain viranomaiset pitivät väitettä perättömänä.

Asiantuntijat eivät usko, että Mehsudin järjestö kykenisi järjestämään terrori-iskujen sarjaa Yhdysvalloissa.

Pakistanin Taleban korosti sanomaansa maanantaina räjäyttämällä autopommin Yhdysvaltain keskustiedustelupalvelun CIA:n varuskunnan luona Khostin kaupungin lähellä. Khost on Afganistanissa Pakistanin rajan tuntumassa. Paikka on sama, jossa järjestön itsemurhapommittaja surmasi seitsemän CIA:n agenttia joulukuun 30. päivänä.

Yhdysvallat ilmoitti maanantaina neljän terroristin saaneen surmansa ohjusiskussa Pakistanin heimoalueille. Pakistanin armeija ilmoitti surmanneensa samalla alueella 16 vihollistaistelijaa.

http://www.hs.fi/verkkolehti/ulkomaat/artikkeli/Kuolleeksi+luultu+terroristijohtaja+uhkasi+Yhdysvaltoja+iskuilla/1135256569360

[SK]

Arrest Made in Times Square Bomb Plot

Federal agents and police detectives arrested a Connecticut man, a naturalized United States citizen from Pakistan, early Tuesday in connection with the failed Times Square car bombing, according to people briefed on the investigation.

The man, Faisal Shahzad, was believed to have recently bought the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder that was found loaded with gasoline, propane, fireworks and fertilizer in the heart of Times Square, one of the people briefed on the development said.

Mr. Shahzad was taken into custody at Kennedy Airport, apparently trying to flee, one of the people said. Charges against Mr. Shahzad, who had returned recently from a trip to Pakistan, were not announced.

The authorities began focusing on him after they tracked the vehicle to its previously registered owner in Bridgeport, Conn., who had advertised it for sale on several Web sites. He paid cash, and the sale was handled without any formal paperwork.

The former owner told investigators that it appeared the buyer was of Middle Eastern or Hispanic descent, but could not recall his name. It was unclear how agents from the Joint Terrorist Task Force identified him. Federal authorities provided few details on Monday night about the arrest, the suspect or the scope of any conspiracy in the failed attack.

The authorities have been exploring whether the man or others who might have been involved in the attempted bombing had been in contact with people or groups overseas, according to federal officials.

The investigation was shifted on Monday to the control of the international terrorism branch of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, a multiagency group led by the Justice Department, according to two federal officials.

Officials cautioned that the investigation of possible international contacts did not mean there was a connection to a known terrorist group, but they said they were exploring all possibilities.

"It's a prominent lead that they're following, the international association," said a senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation. "But there's still a lot of information being gathered."

On Monday, prior to the arrest, there was a sweeping response to the attempted attack in the tourist-packed city-within-a-city of Times Square — including an increased police presence, vehicle inspections and a touch of panic from veteran New Yorkers when a manhole fire flared five blocks from the scene of the failed bombing. Consolidated Edison blamed faulty wiring for the fire.

The recent sale of the Pathfinder began online. An advertisement that appears to be for the vehicle, which had 141,000 miles on the odometer and was listed for sale at $1,300 on at least two Web sites, emphasized that it was in good condition — "CLEAN inside and out!!" — with a recently repaired alternator and a new gas pump, distributor and front tires. "It does have some rust as you can see in the picture," the seller allowed on NothingButCars.net, "but other than that, it runs great." The other advertisement appeared on Craigslist.

In Bridgeport, the seller refused to answer questions. "You can't interview her," said an unidentified man at the woman's two-story, white clapboard house. "She already talked to the F.B.I."

The police earlier on Monday continued sifting through footage from 82 city cameras mounted from 34th Street to 51st Street between Avenue of the Americas and Eighth Avenue, and from untold number of business and tourist cameras.

But investigators appeared to have begun to assign less significance to a man who appeared to be in his 40s who was seen on one video, and it may well be because they were close to arresting the Connecticut man.

The man in the video was seen walking away from the area where the Pathfinder was parked and through Shubert Alley, which runs between 44th and 45th Streets. He looked over his shoulder at least twice and pulled off a shirt, revealing a red T-shirt underneath.

The New York police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, said investigators still wanted to speak to that man, but acknowledged that he might not be connected to the failed bombing. Paul J. Browne, the department's top spokesman, said the police had stopped looking for additional video in the area that might have tracked the man's movements.

"It may turn out that he was just somebody in the area, but not connected with the car bomb," Mr. Browne said.

Before the arrest occurred, the police had said they might release footage of a man running north on Broadway at the time that a fire broke out in the Pathfinder.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. seemed optimistic in comments he made Monday morning. "I think that we have made really substantial progress," he told reporters in Washington. "We have some good leads."

The materials found in the Pathfinder were to be sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's laboratory in Quantico, Va., for analysis, the police said. Janet Napolitano, the homeland security secretary, said on the "Today" show that it was premature to label any person or group as suspect. "Right now, every lead has to be pursued," she said. "I caution against premature decisions one way or the other." But the White House made clear that it considered the effort an act of terrorism, whoever its authors were. "I think anybody that has the type of material that they had in a car in Times Square, I would say that that was intended to terrorize, absolutely," said the White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs.


Reporting was contributed by Alison Leigh Cowan, Robert Davey, Nate Schweber, Michael Wilson and Karen Zraick.

The New York Times

[SK]

Arrest Made in Times Square Bomb Plot

(CBS/ AP)  Last updated a 12:57 a.m. EST

Authorities have taken Faisal Shahzad into custody in connection with the failed Times Square bombing attempt. He was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport while trying to leave the country.

Earlier sources said that the buyer of the SUV used in a failed attack is a man of Pakistani descent who recently traveled to Pakistan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is at a sensitive stage.

The officials say the man is a Connecticut resident who paid cash weeks ago for the SUV parked in Times Square on Saturday and rigged with a crude propane-and-gasoline bomb.

The source told CBS News forensic evidence uncovered in the vehicle led them to a Middle Eastern man’s name that was familiar to counter terrorism investigators.

The car's last registered owner was questioned Sunday by investigators, and said he sold the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder to a man he did not know three weeks ago to a stranger, one official said.

Officials say the owner, whose name has not been released, is not considered a suspect in the bomb scare. But the revelation of the sale led authorities one step closer to whomever was aiming for mass carnage on a busy Saturday night in the heart of Times Square and achieved only streets emptied for hours of thousands of tourists.

New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne confirmed Monday that investigators had spoken to the registered owner.

The vehicle identification number had been removed from Pathfinder's dashboard, but it was stamped on the engine, and investigators used it to find the owner on record.

"The discovery of the VIN on the engine block was pivotal in that it led to identifying the registered owner," Browne said. "It continues to pay dividends."

Investigators tracked the license plates to a used auto parts shop in Stratford, Conn., where they discovered the plates were connected to a different vehicle.

They also spoke to the owner of an auto sales shop in nearby Bridgeport because a sticker on the Pathfinder indicated the SUV had been sold by his dealership. Owner Tom Manis said there was no match between the identification number the officers showed him and any vehicle he sold.

Officials stress they have found no definitive link to al Qaeda or any terrorist group, but the White House today called the attempted attack a clear act of terrorism, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr.

"I think anybody that has the type of material that they had in a car in Times Square, I would say that that was intended to terrorize, absolutely," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

In New York, police and FBI examined hundreds of hours of video from around the area. They had initially wanted to speak with a man in his 40s who was videotaped shedding his shirt near the Pathfinder, but backed away as the buyer became clear. The man had not been considered a suspect and officials said it's possible he was just a bystander. Police also received around 120 tips, and three of which were considered promising, and collected forensic evidence from the Pathfinder.

A motive was unclear. Barry Mawn, who led New York's FBI office at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and has since retired, said suspects could range from those sympathetic to the interest of U.S. enemies to a domestic terrorist to a disgruntled employee who worked in Times Square.

The Pakistani Taliban appeared to claim responsibility for the bomb in three videos that surfaced after the weekend scare, monitoring groups said. New York officials said police have no evidence to support the claims. It was unclear if the buyer of the SUV had any relationship to the group.

The SUV was parked near offices of Viacom Inc., which owns Comedy Central. The network recently aired an episode of the animated show "South Park" that the group Revolution Muslim had complained insulted the Prophet Muhammad by depicting him in a bear costume.

The date of the botched bombing - May 1 - was International Workers Day, a traditional date for political demonstrations, and thousands had rallied for immigration reform that day in New York.

Security had been also been tight in the city in advance of a visit to the United Nations by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a nuclear weapons conference.

Police said the bomb could have produced "a significant fireball" and sprayed shrapnel with enough force to kill pedestrians and knock out windows. The SUV was parked on a street lined with Broadway theaters and restaurants and full of people out on a Saturday night.

The SUV was captured on video crossing an intersection at 6:28 p.m. Saturday. A vendor pointed out the Pathfinder to an officer about two minutes later. Times Square, clogged with tourists on a warm evening, was shut down for 10 hours.

The explosive device had cheap-looking alarm clocks connected to a 16-ounce can filled with fireworks, which were apparently intended to detonate the gas cans and set the propane afire in a chain reaction, said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

A metal rifle cabinet placed in the cargo area was packed with fertilizer, but NYPD bomb experts believe it was not a type volatile enough to explode like the ammonium nitrate grade fertilizer used in previous terrorist bombings.

The exact amount of fertilizer was unknown. Police estimated the cabinet weighed 200 to 250 pounds when they pulled it from the vehicle.

To experts in explosives, it seemed to be the work of someone who really didn't know what they were doing.

Chris Falkenberg, president of Insite Security, which works with Fortune 500 companies, said the device, as described by authorities, "doesn't differ much at all from 'The Anarchist Cookbook"' - the underground 1971 manual for homemade explosives.

He said revelations that the fertilizer used could not have exploded suggested "this is amateur hour. My kids could build a better bomb than this."

President Barack Obama telephoned handbag vendor Duane Jackson, 58, of Buchanan, N.Y., on Monday to commend him for alerting authorities to the smoking SUV. The White House said Obama thanked Jackson for his vigilance and for acting quickly to prevent serious trouble.

CBS News ja Video

[Marjapussi]

Pakistanilaistaustaisista maahanmuuttajista on kehittynyt iso riskiryhmä sekä Jenkeissä että Englannissa. He eivät tunnu integroituvan yhteiskuntaan vaikka kansalaisuus myönnettäisiin.

[SK]

Lisää linkkejä:

Pakistani US citizen 'trying to flee US' - New York Post

Official: Suspect in custody in N.Y. car bomb attack - US Today

U.S. citizen from Pakistan arrested in Times Square bomb case (1) - The Washinton Post

U.S. citizen from Pakistan arrested in Times Square bomb case (2) - The Washinton Post

[SK]

Bomb plot suspect arrested trying to catch flight to Dubai - CNN

Holder: Bomb suspect tried to fly to Dubai - MSNBC

Pakistani arrested in Time Square Bomb Plot - Fox News

Foxilta kannattaa lukea myös tämä ja tämä. Hehkutus alkoi välittömästi.

Vastaus siihen millaisesta paukusta oli kyse, löytyy täältä.


Edit: Nyt linkkien pitäisi toimia.

[SK]

N.Y. Bomb Suspect Said to Implicate Self - The New York Times

A Connecticut man pulled off a plane bound for Dubai and arrested for Saturday's night's failed bid to set off a car bomb in Times Square has made statements implicating himself, and has told the authorities that he acted alone, a law enforcement official said on Tuesday morning.

The man, Faisal Shahzad, 30, was taken into custody just before midnight at Kennedy Airport aboard an Emirates flight that had just pulled away from the gate, officials said. Two other men were also interviewed by authorities but were released, according to another law enforcement official. Mr. Shahzad had apparently driven to the airport in a white Isuzu Trooper that was found in a parking lot with a handgun inside, the official said.

The official added that the other men may have been taken into custody simply because they had similar names.

Mr. Shahzad is a naturalized United States citizen from Pakistan — from which he had recently returned after a five-month visit — who lives in Bridgeport, Conn., the authorities said. He was already aboard Emirates flight 202 when he was identified by the Department of Homeland Security's United States Customs and Border Protection, according to a joint statement issued by the office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the southern district of New York, the F.B.I. and the New York Police Department.

Officials called the plane back, the airline said. All of the passengers were taken off, and they, their luggage and the Boeing 777 were screened before the flight was allowed to depart, about seven hours late, at 6:29 a.m. It was not immediately known when Mr. Shahzad bought his ticket. Emirates said in a statement that a total of three passengers were removed from the plane.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., in an early morning statement, confirmed Mr. Shahzad's arrest for driving a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder found loaded with gasoline, propane, fireworks and fertilizer into the heart of Times Square on Saturday night. Mr. Shahzad is believed to have bought the vehicle from a Connecticut woman within the last three weeks for $1,300, a person briefed on the investigation said, and it was that transaction that eventually led to his dramatic arrest on the airport tarmac.

The law enforcement official who said Mr. Shahzad had implicated himself also revealed more details of the transaction. He said authorities had found Mr. Shahzad through the email address he had given the seller. He said the two had met in a parking lot in Connecticut, that Mr. Shahzad had given the Pathfinder a test drive, and the he'd negotiated the price down to $1,300 from the $1,800 initially sought by the seller.

While Mr. Shahzad said he had acted alone, law enforcement officials have said the investigation is, in the words of one, "very much ongoing," and the F.B.I. agents and police detectives from the Joint Terrorist Task Force who arrested him have not developed evidence to either prove or disprove his claims. Charges against Mr. Shahzad were not announced, but he was expected to be charged Tuesday in federal court.

"Over the course of the day today, we have gathered significant additional evidence that led to tonight's arrest," Mr. Holder said. "The investigation is ongoing, as are our attempts to gather useful intelligence, and we continue to pursue a number of leads." He continued, "But it's clear that the intent behind this terrorist act was to kill Americans."

An official in Pakistan's Interior Ministry said that Mr. Shahzad had come to Pakistan in April 2009 and departed on August 5 on an Emirates Airways flight. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Mr. Shahzad stayed in the port city of Karachi during that period.

A senior Pakistani security official whose organization works closely with American officials said the Americans had yet to share details of the case with Pakistanis. He said the investigation would depend on where Mr. Shahzad is believed to have traveled after reaching Pakistan. Some reports said Mr. Shahzad traveled to Peshawar, the gateway city to the country's militant-controlled western border with Afghanistan.

Pakistan's interior minister, Rehman Malik, said Tuesday that his country would cooperate with American officials as they continued their investigation, Reuters reported.

In a statement, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg thanked law enforcement officials, saying their "swift efforts led to this arrest after only 48 hours of around-the-clock investigation."

"I hope their impressive work serves as a lesson to anyone who would do us harm," he said. The authorities began focusing on Mr. Shahzad after they tracked the sport utility vehicle to its previously registered owner in Bridgeport, Conn., who had advertised it for sale on several Web sites. The former owner said the buyer paid cash, and the sale was handled without any formal paperwork.

The former owner told investigators that it appeared the buyer was of Middle Eastern or Hispanic descent, but could not recall his name.

N.Y. Bomb Suspect Said to Implicate Self (Page 2 of 2) - The New York Times

The authorities have been exploring whether the man or others who might have been involved in the attempted bombing had been in contact with people or groups overseas, according to federal officials.

The investigation was shifted on Monday to the control of the international terrorism branch of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, a multiagency group led by the Justice Department, according to two federal officials.

"As we move forward, we will focus on not just holding those responsible for it accountable, but also on obtaining any intelligence about terrorist organizations overseas," Mr. Holder said.

Officials cautioned that the investigation of possible international contacts did not mean they had established a connection to a known terrorist group.

The investigation was shifted on Monday to the control of the international terrorism branch of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, a multiagency group led by the Justice Department, according to two federal officials.

"As we move forward, we will focus on not just holding those responsible for it accountable, but also on obtaining any intelligence about terrorist organizations overseas," Mr. Holder said.

Officials cautioned that the investigation of possible international contacts did not mean they had established a connection to a known terrorist group.

"It's a prominent lead that they're following, the international association," said a senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation. "But there's still a lot of information being gathered."

President Obama was notified of the arrest at 12:05 a.m. by his counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, the sixth time he had been briefed on the case over the past day, said Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary.

Early Tuesday, at Mr. Shahzad's former home in Shelton, Conn., just outside Bridgeport, a neighbor said that Mr. Shahzad and his wife, Huma Mian, spoke limited English and kept mostly to themselves. The couple had two young children, a girl and a boy, said the neighbor, Brenda Thurman.

Ms. Thurman said the couple had lived at the house at 119 Long Hill Avenue for about three years before moving out last year. Mr. Shahzad left around May, she said, and his wife followed about a month later.

The house was a gray, two story Colonial-style three-bedroom built in 2003, according to the real estate site trulia.com.

Ms. Thurman said Mr. Shahzad got up early every morning and left to work nicely dressed, and had told her that he worked on Wall Street.

"I think he caught the train to New York," she said.

On Monday, prior to the arrest, there was a sweeping response to the attempted attack in the tourist-packed city-within-a-city of Times Square — including an increased police presence, vehicle inspections and a touch of panic from veteran New Yorkers when a manhole fire flared five blocks from the scene of the failed bombing. Consolidated Edison blamed faulty wiring for the fire.

The recent sale of the Pathfinder began online. An advertisement that appears to be for the vehicle, which had 141,000 miles on the odometer and was listed for sale at $1,300 on at least two Web sites, emphasized that it was in good condition — "CLEAN inside and out!!" — with a recently repaired alternator and a new gas pump, distributor and front tires.

"It does have some rust as you can see in the picture," the seller allowed on NothingButCars.net, "but other than that, it runs great."

The other advertisement appeared on Craigslist.

In Bridgeport, the seller refused to answer questions.

"You can't interview her," said an unidentified man at the woman's two-story, white clapboard house. "She already talked to the F.B.I."

The police earlier on Monday sifted through footage from 82 city cameras mounted from 34th Street to 51st Street between Avenue of the Americas and Eighth Avenue, and from untold number of business and tourist cameras.

Investigators initially focused on a man who appeared to be in his 40s who was seen on one video, walking away from the area where the Pathfinder was parked and through Shubert Alley, which runs between 44th and 45th Streets. He looked over his shoulder at least twice and pulled off a shirt, revealing a red T-shirt underneath.

The New York police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, said investigators still wanted to speak to that man but acknowledged that he might not be connected to the failed bombing. Paul J. Browne, the department's top spokesman, said the police had stopped looking for additional video in the area that might have tracked the man's movements.

"It may turn out that he was just somebody in the area, but not connected with the car bomb," Mr. Browne said.

Before the arrest occurred, the police had said they might release footage of a man running north on Broadway at the time that a fire broke out in the Pathfinder.

The materials found in the Pathfinder were to be sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's laboratory in Quantico, Va., for analysis, the police said.

Janet Napolitano, the homeland security secretary, had said on the "Today" show that it was premature to label any person or group as suspect. "Right now, every lead has to be pursued," she said. "I caution against premature decisions one way or the other."

[Termiitti]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8660370.stm Uutinen puolestaan Bbc:llä.

(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47778000/jpg/_47778135_shahzad2ap.jpg)

Syytetty Faisal Shahzad kuvassa.