'Ordinary Joe' past of bomb suspect

Faisal Shahzad, the 30-year-old son of a retired official in Pakistan's air force, has been charged with trying to blow up a crude petrol and propane device inside a parked four-wheel drive car in Time Square amid tourists and Broadway theatre-goers.

He was taken off a Dubai-bound plane he had boarded on Monday night at New York's John F Kennedy International Airport, in spite of being under surveillance and being on the federal no-fly list.

US Attorney General Eric Holder said Shahzad, who faces terrorism and weapons of mass destruction charges, had been providing valuable information as investigators sought to determine the scope of the plot to blow up the vehicle on Saturday night in the heart of New York near bustling restaurants and a theatre showing The Lion King.

"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," said Mr Holder.

A court hearing was cancelled yesterday in part because of Shahzad's co-operation with investigators but authorities said little light has been shed on what might have motivated him.

Sharzad had a master's degree from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, a job as a budget analyst for a marketing firm in Norwalk, Connecticut, two children and a well-educated American wife, Huma Mian, who posted his picture and called him "my everything" on a social networking website.

But shortly after becoming a US citizen a year ago, he gave up his job, stopped paying his mortgage and told an estate agent to let the bank take the house because he was returning to Pakistan. Once there he travelled to the lawless Waziristan region and learned bomb making at a terrorist training camp.

In court papers, investigators said Shahzad returned to the US on February 3, moved into an apartment in a low-rent area of Bridgeport, then set about acquiring materials and the vehicle he bought with cash in late April. After his arrest, Shahzad confessed to rigging the bomb and driving it into Times Square. He also acknowledged getting training in Pakistan.

The investigation of the fizzled bomb attack unfolded quickly, with a suspect in custody in only 53 hours – but it didn't go off without a hitch. After identifying Shahzad through the previous owner of the vehicle, investigators had him under surveillance when he nearly slipped away.

Authorities initially planned to arrest him at his Connecticut home but lost track of him.

Emirates airlines also did not notice when Shahzad purchased his ticket that he was on the government's no-fly list.

US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano credited customs officials with recognising Shahzad's name on a passenger

manifest and stopping the flight. Agents apprehended him on the plane. Since the attack, airlines have been ordered to check updated no-fly lists within two hours of being notified of changes.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the Times Square car bomb plot but US officials said they are still investigating. Pakistan's army said it does not believe the insurgent group was behind the attempt.

Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud has threatened further attacks in retaliation for the conviction in the US of Aafia Siddiqui, a 37-year old Pakistani scientist who was convicted in New York in February of trying to kill American service personnel after her arrest in Afghanistan.