http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2010/05/times_square_bomber_met_with_q.php
“Qari Hussain met with Times Square bomber: Report”
By BILL ROGGIO
May 5, 2010 12:30 PM
SNIPPET: “According to AKI, Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American in custody who admitted to carrying out the failed Times Square bomb plot, had met with Qari Hussain Mehsud, the Taliban’s top trainer of suicide bombers:
Officials believe 30-year-old Shahzad, a Karachi-born Pushtun, had no relationship with any militant organisation, until Rehan put him in contact with Qari Hussain Mehsud, the chief of the Pakistani Taliban’s suicide squad and explosives expert.
Hussain is believed to have provided training to Shahzad on improvised explosives on a recent visit to Pakistan.
I have heard a similar report from a US intelligence official but have not been able to confirm this, so the AKI report is very interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a video of Shahzad flanked by Qari Hussain or Taliban leader Hakeemullah Mehsud.
Qari Hussain took credit for the planned Times Square attack in an audiotape that appeared on a YouTube site created by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan News Channel on April 30, just one day before the attack. Qari Hussain’s audiotape was uploaded on April 30, the same day the Taliban news channel was created.”
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.1.345307194
“Pakistan: NY bomb suspect ‘met Taliban explosives expert’”
Islamabad, 5 May (AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad -
SNIPPET: “Pakistani investigators believe the man accused of the failed bomb attack in Times Square, Faisal Shahzad, learned about explosives from a senior Taliban expert at a training camp in Pakistan. Mohammad Rehan, one of eight people arrested in Pakistan late Tuesday, is accused of introducing Shahzad to militants gave him lessons in handling explosives.
According to security sources Rehan was arrested in the Pakistani southern port city of Karachi.
He is suspected of taking Shahzad, a son of retired senior air force officer, to the northern city of Peshawar and then to North Waziristan, which is now a Taliban stronghold.
Officials believe 30-year-old Shahzad, a Karachi-born Pushtun, had no relationship with any militant organisation, until Rehan put him in contact with Qari Hussain Mehsud, the chief of the Pakistani Taliban’s suicide squad and explosives expert.
Hussain is believed to have provided training to Shahzad on improvised explosives on a recent visit to Pakistan.”