On Thursday alleged Times Square would-be bomber Faisal Shahzad, who was previously charged with the attempted car bombing, was indicted by a grand jury on ten new charges in New York. And the indictment alleges that Shahzad had operational help from an unnamed person in Pakistan.
Check out this section from the indictment:
On or about February 25, 2010, SHAHZAD received approximately $5,000 in cash in Massachusetts sent from a co-conspirator not named as a defendant herein who SHAHZAD understood worked for Tehrik-e-Taliban (“CC-l”).
And a little later:
On or about April 10, 2010, SHAHZAD received approximately $7,000 in Ronkonkoma, New York, sent at CC-1’s direction.
Now, the phrasing (“who Shahzad understood worked for …”) leaves it unclear if the government is accepting as true that co-conspirator 1 in fact worked for Tehrik-e-Taliban. And the indictment also notes that co-conspirator 1 is not named as a defendant. The Washington Post reports that officials are mum on the location and the identity of the person.
But the indictment does allege that “in or about December 2009, Shahzad received explosives training in Waziristan, Pakistan, from explosive trainers affiliated with Tehrik-e-Taliban, a militant extremist group based in Pakistan.” Shahzad had previously claimed to interrogators that he got training in Pakistan, and Attorney General Eric Holder said in May “the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attack.”
In the press release accompanying the indictment, Holder says: “The facts alleged in this indictment show that the Pakistani Taliban facilitated Faisal Shahzad’s attempted attack on American soil.”
Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has previously questioned how much evidence there is that ties the Pakistani Taliban to the attack.
Shahzad is charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, conspiracy, and several weapons charges.
