Pakistan acknowledges Faisal Shahzad met Hakimullah

Pakistan acknowledged that the Faisal Shahzad who pleaded guilty to a New York bomb plot met the commander of TTP.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan acknowledged on Monday that the Faisal Shahzad who pleaded guilty to a New York bomb plot met the commander of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, just days after footage emerged of them hugging.

Faisal Shahzad last month pleaded guilty in a New York court to the bomb bid and warned of more attacks on the United States until it leaves Muslim lands. Sky News broadcast a video last week showing Shahzad and Hakimullah Mehsud, commander the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, shaking hands, smiling and hugging sometime before the failed May 1 attack.

"He visited Pakistan seven times and he met Hakimullah Mehsud and also met other people, those so-called leaders of the Taliban," Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters in the northwestern town of Pabbi.

Tehrik-e-Taliban claimed responsibility for the May 1 New York bomb plot. Pakistan opened an investigation into possible links between Shahzad and militant groups at the request of the United States.

Pakistani-born Shahzad was pulled off a flight to Dubai two days after parking a car containing a bomb in Times Square. Shahzad told a judge he underwent bomb-making training during a 40-day stay with the Pakistani Taliban in Pakistan, between December 9 and January 25.

On returning to the United States, Shahzad said he planned the bombing and acted alone, telling the judge: "Nobody helped me." Malik sought to distance Pakistan from Shahzad, who spent much of the last decade in the United States and who took US nationality.

"We accept he is of Pakistani origin but all his actions in America should also be investigated," he said. "We should see this in greater perspective. This is a matter of mindset. The Taliban are trying to change the mindset of present and future generations and we have to fight against this."