Officials doubt Pakistani Taliban behind New York bomb attempt

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

Officials doubt Pakistani Taliban behind New York bomb attempt
By Saeed Shah and Warren P. Strobel, McClatchy Newspapers 1 hr 36 mins ago

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — U.S. counterterrorism officials and South Asian analysts said Monday they doubted the Pakistani Taliban's claims of responsibility for Saturday's attempted bombing in Midtown Manhattan, but the claims nonetheless underscored the group's soaring ambitions as a flag-bearer for al Qaida .

Three Internet videos released Sunday and early Monday show the group's commander, Hakimullah Mehsud, thought by U.S. and Pakistani intelligence to have been killed in a January airstrike, very much alive. The Pakistani Taliban also claimed to have been behind the botched Times Square car bombing, while Mehsud threatened more attacks.

U.S. officials, requesting anonymity to speak about an ongoing investigation, said there was no evidence to support the claim. "People are pretty skeptical" about it, one official said. Experts in Islamabad also said the Pakistani Taliban don't have the logistical capability to stage an operation of this sort in the U.S.

The White House Monday characterized the failed plot as an act of terrorism. "I would say that that was intended to terrorize. Absolutely," spokesman Robert Gibbs said. "Whoever did that would be categorized as a terrorist."

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