“… the major had mobile phone contact with Shahzad on the day of the attempted bombing, including one conversation at the same time the bomber was allegedly parking his car loaded with propane tanks and explosives.”
With apologies to Dr. Seuss: Oh, the places you’ll find the Tiny Minority of Extremists. “Times Square bomb plot: Pakistani Army major arrested,” by Rob Crilly for the Telegraph, May 27:
Pakistani and US sources say there is evidence that mobile phone calls were exchanged between Major Adnan Ejaz and the suspected would-be bomber, Faisal Shahzad, who was arrested on May 3 as he attempted to fly out of New York.
A Pakistani law enforcement sources said that the major had mobile phone contact with Shahzad on the day of the attempted bombing, including one conversation at the same time the bomber was allegedly parking his car loaded with propane tanks and explosives.
He had also met the naturalised American in Islamabad, he claimed.
Shahzad, the son of a retired Pakistani Air Force officer, has told interrogators he received training from the Pakistan Taliban in its rugged mountain stronghold of Waziristan.
Pakistan’s military and intelligence services have a long history of working with Jihadi organisations as an instrument of foreign policy.
However, the major’s detention marks the first time someone in the country’s military establishment has been directly linked to the Times Square plot.
In all, 11 people have been detained in Pakistan, including the co-owner of a prominent catering firm used by the US embassy in Islamabad. […]
“Last month [Ejaz] was picked up because of apparent connections to proscribed, banned Punjabi militant organisations. So far we have not found any connection with Shahzad’s case.”
That account differs from the story told by relatives to local newspapers, deepening the mystery and raising fears of an official cover-up. They said he resigned from the Army last year because of money worries and had joined a construction firm….