The Connecticut man busted for planting an explosive device inside a parked SUV in Times Square told investigators today that he received bomb-making training during a recent five-month trip to Pakistan, authorities said.
Faisal Shahzad, 30, received his training in the tribal region of Waziristan near the Afghan border — a Pakistani Taliban stronghold — and admitted his role in Saturday’s failed attack.
READ THE COUNTS AGAINST SHAHZAD
Shahzad, who returned to his Connecticut home this past February from his native Pakistan, told the FBI that he acted alone in the botched bombing.
Shahzad was charged this afternoon with five terror-related counts, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.
PAKISTAN VOWS TO AID INVESTIGATION
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US Attorney General Eric Holder said Shahzad had provided useful information to authorities after he was arrested at Kennedy Airport on Monday at midnight while aboard a flight headed for Dubai.
Holder, speaking at a news conference in Washington, said the act was a “terrorist plot aimed at killing Americans.”
Holder said Shahzad, a naturalized US citizen, admitted to the crimes and was talking to authorities.
“The investigation is ongoing,” he said, without elaborating.
Shahzad is accused of driving a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder loaded with a propane-and-gasoline bomb into Times Square.
According to the charges, Faisal bought the SUV on April 24 in cash for $1,300, using 13 $100 bills.
When cops secured the car, they found a set of keys inside — one of which opened the front door of his Bridgeport home; another a car for an Isuzu that he also owned.
Using a pre-paid cell phone, Faisal called a fireworks store in Pennsylvania and received several calls from Pakistan, according to court papers.
These developments came after as many as ten people were busted today in Pakistan in connection with the botched attack. Raids over the past day in four different locations rounded up the suspects — some of whom may be related to Shahzad.
One of the people arrested in Karachi had met with Shahzad in July 2009 when he visited Peshawar, Pakistan, Fox News reported.
Despite Shahzad’s claims that he acted alone, authorities “will not rest until we have brought everyone responsible to justice,” said Holder.
“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 added.
Shahzad, a US citizen of Pakistani descent, may be connected to other terrorists. The Daily Beast reported that the FBI is trying to determine if there were any ties between Shahzad and another Pakistani-American, David Headley, who pleaded guilty in Chicago in March to his involvement in the November 2008 Mumbai bombings.
An official said there was no immediate evidence of any connection, although the feds have found it “certainly disturbing” that two US citizens of Pakistani origin had been charged in terror cases within months.
In a report on its Web site, Time magazine reported that Shahzad had ties with militants in Pakistan.
After his arrest, officials said Shahzad was told he had the right to remain silent and access to a lawyer, though he has continued to cooperate with federal authorities. The FBI read the suspect in the failed Christmas Day bombing his Miranda rights, a decision that was widely criticized.
Shahzad was arrested after Dubai-bound Emirates flight EK202 was called back before taking off from JFK. He then planned to get on a connecting flight to Pakistan.
Deputy FBI director John Pistole said Shahzad was placed on the “No Fly” list just hours before he was arrested — a key step in stopping him from fleeing the country.
Pakistani police told NBC News that Shahzad traveled from the US to Karachi on July 3, 2009, returning to New York on Aug. 8, 2009. During that time, he is believed to have traveled to Peshawar, a city in the region bordering Afghanistan.
Documents laying outside of Shahzad’s Connecticut home indicate he had or was going to apply to the University of Bridgeport’s international student and graduate program, with the intention of studying marketing and computer science/information systems.
On his application, Shahzad wrote that his permanent address was at the headquarters of the Pakistan Civil Aviation Administration in Karachi. He also wrote that his permanent address was in Peshawar.
Federal investigators also removed a box of fireworks from Shahzad’s home. The box, labeled “Silver Salutes,” are fireworks similar to the M88s authorities say were found among containers of gasoline and other materials left in an SUV meant to explode.
Law enforcement officials said Shahzad bought the Pathfinder from a Connecticut man about three weeks ago and paid for it in cash.
The vehicle ID number had been removed from the dashboard — but it was stamped on the engine — similar to the way cops arrested the men behind the 1993 World Trade Center attack.
Investigators used the number to find the owner of record, who told them he had sold the vehicle to a stranger.
“They were able to basically get one phone number and by running it through a number of databases, figure out who they thought the guy was,” a senior FBI official told Politico.com.
The explosive device found inside the SUV had alarm clocks connected to a 16-ounce can filled with fireworks, which were intended to detonate gas cans and set propane tanks afire in a chain reaction “to cause mayhem, to create casualties,” said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
A metal rifle cabinet placed in the SUV’s 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 past terror attacks.
Cops said the bomb could have produced “a significant fireball” with enough force to kill pedestrians and destroy nearby buildings.
More than a dozen people with American citizenship or residency have been accused over the past two years of attempting or carrying out attacks on US soil.
Among them are Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, a US-born Army psychiatrist of Palestinian descent, charged with fatally shooting 13 people last year at Fort Hood, Texas and Najibullah Zazi, a Denver-area airport shuttle driver who pleaded guilty in February to a plot to bomb city subways.