NY bomber linked to Jaish

The Pakistani investigators are yet to conclude the allegiance of Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad — linked with the failed bombing plot in New York — to any militant outfit but the Jaish-e-Mohammad connections seem strong.
“He was close to the Taliban and Al Qaeda but what we see he was formally associated with Jaish-e-Mohammad (a proscribed Kashmiri outfit fighting against the Indian rule in Kashmir),” an investigator told this newspaper.

Shahzad, arrested in New York, is an ethnic Kashmiri and used to live in Hayatabad town near Pakistan’s Peshawar district — known as gateway to the lawless tribal areas. “Mostly, he was trained by Jaish-e-Mohammad in Karachi and then in Waziristan. The main training was imparted by the Jaish-e-Mohammad and some field training was done in Waziristan,” added the investigator. “Administrator and Nazim (administrator) international relations of Jaish-e-Mohammad (who are stated to be close associates of Faisal Shahzad), have been arrested from North Nazimabad (Karachi) and are being interrogated,” he said. The source said Nazim international relations of Jaish-e-Mohammad Abu Sufian was arrested from Jamia Masjid Batta located in block N at North Nazimabad. Administrator Mohammad Rehan, senior to Sufian, was arrested from Hussain market in the same area. The investigator said that Faisal Shahzad, stayed in a flat of Hussain market building located in North Nazimabad which stood close to Masjid Batta.

“The arrested men tell us that he was imparted basic training in the said flat and was introduced to other people therein,” he said. “We have also found some documents from Rehan’s house which indicate to the same link,” he said.

Mohammad Rehan, the investigator said, told during the preliminary investigation he had stayed with Faisal Shahzad in Peshawar from July, 7 to 22 and later “we returned to Karachi.”

The source said that four other Jaish-e-Mohammad men, identified as Samad, Adnan, Zeeshan and Taha, have also told the investigators about the strong links of Shahzad with the militant outfit. Investigators were led to these men following a scrutiny of Shahzad’s telephone records after his arrival in Pakistan in 2009. “Rehan was picked up along with his cousin Zeeshan. He is an active member of the Jaish-e-Mohammad and collects donations for them. He is also affiliated with Masjid-e-Batta,” said the investigator.

The vice principal of the mosque’s madrassa and its khateeb (prayer leader) Maulana Mohammad Ali said that the agencies’ men had visited the mosque.